b/w 

OF  TB. 


•' 


THE 


WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


BY 

C.  DE  VARIGNY 


TRANSLA  TED  FROM  THE  FRENCH  BY 

ARABELLA   WARD 


NEW  YORK 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY 

1895 


COPYRIGHT,  1895, 

BY 
DODD,  MEAD  AND  COMPANY. 

All  rights  reserved. 


THE  MERSHON  COMPANY  PBESS, 
RAHWAY,  N.  J. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

The  Birth  of  a  Civilisation— A  World  in  Process  of 
Formation — Woman's  Part  at  the  Beginning-  of 
American  Colonisation — Different  Elements  among 
the  Colonists— North  and  South — Puritans  and 
Cavaliers — Antagonistic  Ideas  and  Traditions — 
Establishment  of  Mixed  Schools — Their  Dangers 
and  their  Effect— Beginnings  of  Social  Life- 
American  Women  at  the  Commencement  of  the 
Nineteenth  Century 1 

CHAPTER  II. 

Overmastering  Influence  of  American  Women — Their 
•Rights  and  Privileges — Flirtation,  Love,  Mar- 
riage— Legislation  for  the  Protection  of  Women — 
Its  Abuse — American  Circes — Breach  of  Promise 
Cases — Three  Years  of  a  Young  Girl's  Life — The 
American  Married  Woman — American  Morals — 
Aristocracy  and  Plutocracy  —  Prevalence  of 
Luxury, 58 

^CHAPTER  III. 

Marriage  and  Divorce  in  the  United  States — Extreme 
Laxity  of  the  Law — Typical  Cases — Legislation  of 
the  Different  States — Adventuresses — Woman  in 
the  Far  West— Story  of  Belle  Starr,       .        .        .129 
iii 


iv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

PAGE 

Money  in  American  Society — Adaptability  of  the 
American  Woman — Her  Qualities  and  Her  Defects 
— Various  Types — Elizabeth  Patterson — American 
Critics  of  American  Women — The  American 
Woman  of  To-day — Her  Position  and  Her  In- 
fluence,   183 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED 
STATES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

The  Birth  of  a  Civilisation— A  World  in  Process  of 
Formation— Woman's  Part  at  the  Beginning  of  Amer- 
ican Colonisation — Different  Elements  among  the  Col- 
onists— North  and  South— Puritans  and  Cavaliers — 
Antagonistic  Ideas  and  Traditions — Establishment  of 
Mixed  Schools— Their  Dangers  and  their  Effect— Be- 
ginnings of  Social  Life— American  Women  at  the  Com- 
mencement of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

I. 

EUROPE  is  becoming  Americanised.  In 
one  century,  between  the  years  1789  and 
1889,  she  cast  upon  the  shores  of  North 
America  more  than  fifteen  million  emi- 
grants. Until  I860  she  flooded  the  United 
States  with  the  product  of  her  manufac- 
tories and  thrust  upon  them  her  literature, 
her  ideas,  her  arts  and  artists,  her  fashions 
and  styles,  her  outlaws  and  adventurers. 

Like  a  dry  and  sandy  soil,  the  new  earth  . 
absorbed     everything,    assimilated    every- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

thing — the  good  and  the  evil,  the  clear 
waters  with  the  muddy.  Then,  out  of 
these  different  elements,  by  the  genius  of 
the  race,  by  the  influence  of  the  climate,  by 
*>  freedom  of  thought,  and  by  an  intellectual, 
religious,  and  moral  culture,  there  arose 
^  another  civilisation.  This  civilisation  has 
certain  affinities  with  ours,  yet  presents 
unexpected  contrasts  to  it.  In  its  turn,  it 
reacts  on  Europe,  which  its  tourists  invade, 
and  where  its  roving  millionaires  exchange 
their  homes  for  establishments  so  sump- 
tuous as  to  rival  in  luxury,  elegance,  and 
comfort,  not  only  those  of  the  high-born 
aristocracy  which  is  vanishing  and  which 
they  envy,  but  of  the  moneyed  aristocracy 
which  their  wealth  is  crushing.  In  their 
turn  they  initiate  us  into  their  ideas, 
their  morals,  and  their  customs.  They  do 
this,  not  as  timid,  hesitating  parvenus  in 
dread  of  ridicule,  but  as  people  certain  of 
success,  who  smile  at  our  prejudices,  embold- 
ened by  an  assurance  acquired  through  ex- 
perience. In  return,  these  civilisations  suffer 
mutual  drawbacks.  They  react  one  on  the 
other,  and  change  more  or  less  rapidly  and 
deeply,  according  to  circumstances.  Above 
all,  they  vary  according  to  the  activities 
involved. 
Antiquity  recognised  only  two  of  these : 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

brutal  conquest  and  intellectual  conquest ; 
strength  of  arms  and  charm  of  eloquence 
and  of  art.  Each  has  helped  the  other. 
Murderous  Avar  has  become  methodical  and 
scientific  ;  the  book  and  the  newspaper  have 
replaced  the  tribune,  which  has  grown  too 
limited  for  its  audience.  Men  write  more 
and  speak  less.  Finally,  to  these  influ- 
ences a  third  is  added,  which  in  olden  times 
was  either  unknown  or  else  despised,  yet 
which  is  more  helpful,  more  subtle,  and 
more  powerful  than  any  other — the  influ- 
ence of  woman. 

For  a  long  time  woman  amounted  to  little ; 
she  was  an  accident,  as  it  were,  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  people  as  in  the  life  of  man. 
She  is  much  to-day  ;  and  already  setting 
aside  old  customs,  our  historians,  travellers, 
philosophers,  and  moralists  study  not  only 
a  nation's  politics,  its  methods  of  adminis- 
tration, and  its  economics,  but  they  do  more  . 
than  this  ;  they  inquire  into  ita_social  life 
and  customs ;  into  the  realm  of  which 
woman  is  the  centre,  and  where  she  alone 
holds  sway  and  determines,  now  and  again, 
those  great  events  which  impel  a  nation 
onward.  Whether  we  approve  or  not,  we 
cannot  deny  the  broadening  power  of  this 
woman-influence.  Napoleon  L,  who  was 
strongly  opposed  to  it,  severely  rebuked 


4    THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Mme.  de  Stael  for  entering  into  politics, 
and  she  replied,  u  Women  should  not  be 
blamed  for  their  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
a  country,  when  for  that  country  they  lose 
their  heads."  The  argument  admitted  of 
no  reply,  and  there  are  many  more  that 
resemble  it.  That  which  astonishes  us  is 
not  that  a  part — and  the  largest  part — of  the 
human  race  has  at  length  won  its  share 
of  influence,  but  that  so  many  years  were 
needed  in  which  to  win  it.  Yet  precisely 
because  woman's  progress  has  been  slow, 
her  influence  makes  itself  the  better  felt. 

This  influence  rarely  shows  itself  in  the 
clear  light  of  day.  It  is  not  a  public 
affair,  so  to  speak,  and  therefore  less  of 
a  responsibility.  A  woman's  social  laws 
depend  upon  her  will  alone.  She  pro- 
mulgates them,  observes  them,  and  makes 
others  submit  to  them.  The  chief  work  is 
left  to  man  ;  but  woman,  by  the  strength  of 
her  influence,  is  the  propulsive  power  by 
which  we  may  take  the  measure  of  our 
civilisation.  The  standard  rises  where  her 
influence  is  most  marked  ;  it  falls  where 
this  influence  is  weak  and  vacillating. 
She  seems  in  these  modern  times  the  low- 
water  mark  of  progress.  If,  like  everything 
new,  she  has  her  fanatical  followers,  she 
has  her  slanderers  too ;  reckless  enemies, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.         5 

who  do  more  for  her  than  her  most  devoted 
friends.  Was  her  future  greatness  foreseen, 
I  wonder,  by  those  ancient  law-makers  and 
philosophers  who,  after  reducing  woman  to 
servitude,  then  reproached  her  for  having 
the  vices  of  a  slave — these  Fathers  of  the 
Church  whose  logic  she  frustrated,  and  who 
so  greatly  reviled  her  ? 

Plato,  who  affirmed  that  he  who  failed  in  \ 
this  world  would  in  the  next  be  changed  into 
a  woman,  was  asked  by  Hippocrates,  "What 
is  woman  3"  and  he  replied  "  A  disease."    / 

SL_ Jerome  painted  her  in  colours  no  less  \ 
sombre,  when  he  said,  "All  women  are 
very  evil  and  are  inspired  by  the  devil." 
According  to  St.  Tjiqrn&s,  "  Woman  is  an 
accidental  and  superfluous  being."  In  still 
harsher  language,  St.  John  of  Damascus 
tells  us  that  "  Woman  is  an  evil  animal,  ' 
a  hideous  worm  which  makes  its  home  in 
the  heart  of  men."  St.  John  Chrysostom 
writes,  "She  is  the  source  of  evil,  the/ 
author  of  sin,  the  gate  of  the  tomb,  the 
entrance  to  hell,  the  cause  of  all  our  mis- 
fortunes." According  to  St.  Gregory  the 
Great,  "She  has  no  sense  of  goodness." 
Erasmus  calls  her  "A  stupid  and  silly 
animal,  but  for  all  that,  pleasing  and 
gracious  ;  a  woman,"  he  adds,  "is  always 
a  woman,  that  is  to  say,  foolish." 


6          THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  evil  things  recorded  of  her  would 
fill  a  folio.  The  largest  library  could  not 
hold  the  volumes  that  have  been  written  on 
this  subject.  One  can  state  positively  that 
in  Paris  alone  more  than  one  thousand  such 
novels  and  other  works  appear  annually,  yet 
still,  whether  beloved  or  not,  she  is  none  the 
less  triumphant.  With  what  proud  dis- 
dain she  bears  unflinchingly  the  terrible 
criticism  of  the  most  pessimistic  of  philoso- 
phers :  UO  men,  wise  in  your  deep  and 
mighty  science,  you  who  have  thought, 
who  know  where,  when,  and  how  every- 
thing in  nature  is  united,  what  is  the  reason 
of  this  love,  and  of  these  kisses  ?  Put  your 
subtle  spirit  on  the  rack,  and  tell  me  when 
and  where  and  how  /  came  to  love,  and 
why?" 

)  So  says  Burger,  and  Schopenhauer  puts 
the  same  question.  He  asks,  furthermore, 
in  what  this  strongest  and  most  mysterious 
of  all  realms  consists.  He  is  amazed  that 
it  can  so  torture  the  world's  great  souls ; 
that  it  can  thrust  itself  into  diplomacy, 
troubling  it  with  its  trifles,  thrusting  its  love 
letters  and  locks  of  hair  into  the  portfolios 
of  statesmen  ;  that  it  upsets  everything  and 
turns  the  whole  world  topsy-turvy.  He 
1  blames  "  the  sex  with  broad  hips,  long  hair, 
!  and  limited  ideas."  Rather  than  call  it 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


beautiful,  he  claims  it  were  more  just  to 
('name  it  "unsesthetic."  So  much  for  the 
^physical  side ;  and  as  for  the  moral- 
according  to  his  notion,  "  Nature  refused  to 
woman  strength,  and  gave  her  instead  the 
art  of  deception,  to  protect  her  weakness. 
The  lion  has  his  teeth  and  claws,  the 
elephant  and  the  wild  boar  their  means  of 
defence,  the  bull  its  horns,  the  cuttlefish 
its  ink,  with  which  to  discolour  the  waters : 
and  so  woman  has  deceit,  born  in  the  finest 
as  truly  as  in  the  dullest  natures.  It  is 
as  natural  for  her  to  use  it  on  every 
occasion,  as  it  is  for  an  animal  to  use  its 
natural  weapons  when  attacked." 

Schopenhauer  does  not  forgive  Chris- 
tianity for  having  changed  the  happy  state 
of  inferiority  in  which  woman  was  held 
by  the  ancients.  He  says  :  "  The  Eastern 
people  have  a  better  idea  of  woman's 
position  than  have  we,  with  our  gallantry 
and  our  stupid  feeling  of  reverence,  the 
most  absolute  proof  of  our  German-Chris- 
tian ignorance."  Is  it  not  this,  in  short, 
which  has  created  the  "lady,"  whom  he 
holds  in  deep  and  bitter  hatred?  "The 
European  woman,  the  object  of  Asia's  scorn, 
and  whom  Rome  and  Greece  both  mocked 
at,  is  a  monster — the  offspring  of  human 
folly,  a  mere  machine  for  spending  money." 


\ 
\ 

L 


8         THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Such  in  fact  is  his  feeling  against  Germany, 
for  the  stand  that  she  has  taken  in  this 
unwise  production,  that  he  concludes  thus  : 
"In  case  of  my  death,  I  make  this  con- 
fession, that  I  despise  the  German  nation 
because  of  its  infinite  stupidity,  and  I  blush 
to  be  a  member  of  it." 

In  spite  of  this  last  stroke  the  success 
which  Schopenhauer  won  in  Europe  did 
not  reach  to  the  United  States,  although 
he  strongly  admired  that  country  without 
understanding  it,  and  which,  understanding 
him,  liked  him  only  moderately  well.  The 
"lady,"  the  butt  of  his  bitter  gibes  and 
jeers,  not  content  with  having  conquered  the 
New  World,  is  now  in  a  fair  way  to  Ameri- 
canise the  Old. 


II. 

Every  nation  forms  its  own  conception  of 
woman.  Ideas,  like  language,  vary.  The 
same  thought  may  be  expressed  in  many 
different  ways.  With  the  French,  woman 
is  an  ideal,  embodying  every  exquisite  detail 
of  civilisation.  The  Spaniard  still  thinks 
her  the  Madonna  of  his  shrine.  In  Italy 
she  is  a  garden  flower ;  in  Turkey,  a  con- 
venient article  of  furniture.  We  all  know 
the  naive  complaint  of  the  young  Arabian 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.         0 

girl  about  her  husband  :  "Before  marriage 
he  used  to  kiss  my  foot-prints,  but  now  he 
harnesses  me  with  the  ass  to  the  plough, 
and  makes  me  work." 

The  Englishman,  the  predecessor  of  the 
American,  saw  in  woman,  above  all  else, 
the  mother  of  his  children,  the  mistress  of 
his  Home.  Unsociable  by  taste,  by  nature 
independent,  his  city  life  is  one  of  restless- 
ness, and  he  submits  to  it  only  that  he  may 
win  with  ease  the  living  he  best  loves,  that 
of  a  country  home.  Deeply  imbued  with 
biblical  traditions,  which  are  familiar  to  him 
from  his  fireside  discussions  and  from  the 
reading  of  the  Scriptures,  he  has  acquired 
these  two  characteristics — respect  for 
parental  authority  and  a  desire  for  a  large 
posterity.  He  retains,  too,  his  taste  for 
a  nomadic  life.  From  this  he  derives  the 
instinct  which  drove  men  to  seek  a  greater 
field  of  activity  in  the  Indies,  in  Canada, 
Australia,  and  at  the  Cape,  and  which 
caused  them  to  settle  and  to  people  English 
colonies.  It  is  the  same  instinct  which 
leads  the  man  of  business  to  spend  some 
time  each  year  in  visiting  Europe,  in  hunting 
in  Scotland,  in  catching  salmon  in  Norway 
and  Sweden,  or  in  travelling  in  Egypt.  It 
is  this,  too,  which  drives  these  bold  explorers 
to  the  heart  of  Africa,  and  to  the  ice  of  the 


10       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

North  Pole.  Domestic  by  occupation  and 
necessity,  the  Englishman  has  the  wan- 
derer's instincts — the  wish  to  camp  out,  to 
change  his  abode,  to  see  beyond  his  horizon, 
and  to  breathe  a  different  atmosphere. 
Moreover  emigration  appeared  natural  to 
him.  It  carried  with  it  none  of  the  unpleas- 
ant thoughts  which  prevail  when  success  is 
quite  impossible  where  fate  has  placed  one. 
He  brought  with  him  those  instincts  and 
ideas,  to  plant  in  the  new  soil  which  he 
colonised.  He  transmitted  them  to  his 
descendants,  and  so  it  came  about  that  he 
was  led  to  the  shores  of  the  New  World  by 
two  causes :  first  by  religious  persecution ; 
and  then,  by  the  desire  to  make  his  fortune. 
Thus,  an  offshoot  from  the  mighty  English 
trunk,  he  took  root  and  grew,  bearing  fruit 
in  time ;  for  he  did  not  emigrate  alone.  His 
wife,  his  sons  and  daughters,  came  with  him, 
and  with  him  shared  his  hopes  and  fears. 
He  commanded,  they  obeyedo  He  gave 
judgment,  and  his  word  was  law.  When 
in  1620  they  embarked  on  the  Mayflower; 
when  in  1630,  a  thousand  strong,  they  emi- 
grated to  Massachusetts  Bay,  there  to  find 
the  religious  tolerance  and  political  liberty 
which  Charles  I.  had  refused  them,  they 
did  it  not  as  vanquished  rebels,  nor  as  hope- 
less fanatics,  but  as  loyal  subjects,  as  free_ 


THE  WOMEN  OF  TUE  UNITED  STATES.       11 

English  men,  who  came  to  spread  their  tents 
on  a  solTwhose  remoteness  would  assure 
their  independence.  Almost  all  belonged 
to  the  class  of  those  who,  though  not  rich, 
were,  nevertheless,  in  easy  circumstances. 
Coming  originally,  for  the  most  part,  from 
Boston  and  Dorchester,  they  gave  these 
names  to  their  new  settlements,  begun  with 
prayer  when  first  they  landed,  and  with  the 
remembrance  of  the  mother-country  em- 
bodied in  these  names,  and  in  that  of  New 
England,  given  to  their  adopted  home. 

A  short  distance  from  the  shore  rose  the 
forest,  dense  and  illimitable.  It  extended 
northward  to  the  majestic  stream  of  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Canadian  frontiers ;  and 
westward  to  the  great  and  unknown  lakes 
of  Ontario,  Erie,  and  Michigan,  and  to  the 
rich  prairies  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  Illinois, 
which  were  discovered  a  century  later  by 
two  Englishmen,  George  Flower  and 
Maurice  Birbeck.  With  hatchet  and  fire 
the  colonists  made  great  clearings  in  the 
forest,  enlarged  the  glades,  utilised  the 
wood  in  building  huts,  and  made  arable  the 
soil.  They  carried  with  them  the  necessary 
implements,  with  whose  aid  were  to  be 
planted  their  future  crops.  It  was  the  rough 
life  of  the  pioneer  and  not  the  wretched  one 
of  a  poor  settler.  The  men  builded,  laboured, 


OF  THB 

UNIVERSITY 


12       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

planted ;  the  women  attended  to  their 
domestic  duties,  prepared  the  food  and 
mended  the  clothes,  until  evening  brought 
the  family  together  around  the  common 
meal.  A  general  prayer  followed,  some 
Bible  reading,  a  religious  exhortation  from 
the  father,  and  then  another  prayer.  It  was 
a  simple  and  a  wholesome  life,  full  of  work 
and  religion  ;  with  no  time  for  vain  regrets 
and  idle  dreams  ;  a  calm  and  serious  exist- 
ence ;  not  monotonous  or  empty,  but  one 
in  which  the  mind  and  body  were  always 
active.  Their  efforts  were  rewarded  by  a 
growing  ease,  by  the  comforts  won  through 
foresight  and  labour,  by  the  knowledge  of  all 
trades  which  comes  from  the  necessity  of 
learning.  One  was  at  once  architect  and 
builder,  breeder  and  farmer,  woodman  and 
carpenter,  trapper  and  hunter — in  short, 
everything.  Each  year  showed  fresh  prog- 
ress, a  wider  domain,  an  increased  harvest, 
a  greater  number  of  cattle,  a  growing 
prosperity  in  all  things. 

New  England  became  populated.  The 
emigrants  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
Indians,  few  in  number  and  ready  to  hire 
out  their  services.  Between  1630  and  1640, 
N  twenty  thousand  English  Protestant  colo- 
nists crossed  the  Atlantic.  The  women  were 
by  no  means  lacking  in  boldness  nor  fearless- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       13 

ness,  butit  was  not  until  the  religious  change 
which  England  brought  about  in  passing 
from    Catholicism     to    Protestantism    that 
woman  played  an  important  part.     She  felt 
the  influence  of  reform  as  did  man.     Chris- 
tianity had  given  her  liberty,  but  Protestant- 1 
ism  freed  her  from  further  restraint.     It  I 
gave  her  equal  rights  with  man;  it  recog-l^. 
nised  even  her  natural  intelligence,  even  her 
faculty  of  insight  and  of  reason,   and  her  \ 
duties  and  responsibilities  in  this  life.     She 
was  free  to  live  as  she  wished,  even  to  marryv 
as  she  wished.    Thus  she  moved  with  greater 
ease  in  the  broader  realm  of  her  religious 
ideas,  conforming  to  them  or  not,  as  she 
wished.      She  retired  within  herself,    and 
meditated    within    her   conscience,    where 
none  but  God  might  look.     A  feeling  of 
limitless  responsibility  arose  in  place  of  her 
former  passive  obedience,  and  within  her 
was  born  a  strong  and  independent  soul. 
Then  was  she  indeed  the  equal  of  man. 
Free,  now,  this  woman  mentally  from  all  the 
restrictions  of  her  childhood.    Bear  her  and 
her  family  three  thousand  miles  away  across    K 
an  unknown  ocean  on  which  navigation  is 
as  slow  as  it  was  perilous  ;  place  her  on 
foreign  shores,  encircled  by  the  solitude  of 
an  endless  forest,  deep  and  vast;  give  her 
this  new  life,  where  she  feels  that  she  is  not 


14       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

only  useful,  but  necessary,  and  where  she 
may  assume  her  share  of  a  common  burden  ; 
let  her  husband  and  children  demand  much 
from  her — and  then,  comparing  her  strength 
with  her  task,  you  will  find  one  equal  to  the 
other.  Faith  will  sustain  her.  The  very 
thought  of  her  usefulness  rouses  in  her 
a  courage  forgetful  of  self.  Her  mind  is 
full  of  different  occupations,  and  becomes 
stronger.  She  works  and  plans,  and  amid 
constant  activity  she  satisfies  one  of  the 
most  urgent  demands  of  her  nature  and  of 
her  heart,  viz.,  to  feel  that  she  is  the  centre 
of  a  home,  and  indispensable  to  those  whom 
she  loves.  The  more  children  she  has,  the 
richer  she  thinks  herself. 

The  boys  helped  the  father,  the  daughters 
the  mother,  and  the  race  grew.  As  yet 
woman  had  neither  rivals  to  fear,  nor  temp- 
tations to  conquer.  Isolation  was  her 
pedestal,  and  she  grew  in  the  solitude  of 
the  modest  home,  where  she  was  queen. 
That  period  was  a  happy  one.  If  the  grain 
rose  thick  in  the  beds  between  the  tree- 
stumps  blackened  by  fire,  it  grew  also  on 
fertile  soil,  which  the  plough  had  scarcely 
scratched.  So,  too,  the  children  multiplied 
in  the  log  cabins.  Fever,  which  inevitably 
accompanies  a  clearing  of  the  ground,  carried 
away  the  weakest,  as  at  the  beginning  it 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       15 

had  laid  low  the  less  robust  of  the  settlers  ; 
but  the  gaps  were  filled,  and  those  who 
survived,  strong  and  vigorous,  were  the 
beginning  of  a  great  nation.  Then,  too,  the 
climate  was  healthful.  The  forests  grew, 
new  settlers  invaded  them,  making  clearings 
in  their  turn,  always  pushing  farther  off  the 
black  wall  of  trees  which  slowly  gave  way 
before  them,  and  there  was  left  as  the  result 
of  their  toil  a  rich  green  earth,  a  stranger 
to  sunlight,  to  be  sure,  but  which,  under  its 
rays,  put  forth  a  golden  harvest.  The  soli- 
tary places  were  filled.  From  the  window 
of  each  hut  other  huts  could  be  seen, 
within  which  lived  and  toiled  fellow- 
workers  and  fellow- thinkers.  All  were 
free  and  independent,  each  in  his  own 
home ;  but  there  existed  no  longer  the 
uncertainty  of  isolation.  In  case  of  danger, 
illness,  or  accident,  one^  could  help  the 
other,  and  aid  in  the  common  fight  against 
Nature.  An  elementary  grouping,  in  which 
each  woman  was  a  centre  sufficient  in  itself, 
whose  birth  and  rapid  development  we  have 
followed. 

Gferms  of  fishing- villages,  like  Yerba- 
Buena,  with  its  479  inhabitants,  which  be- 
came a  city  twenty  years  later — San  Fran- 
cisco, which  claims  300,000  population, — 
encampments  of  hunters,  like  Chicago, 


16        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

which  have  more  than  a  million,  did  not 
rise  in  this  way.  The  English  colony  took- 
root,  unconscious  of  its  strength,  and 
still  more  ignorant  of  the  future.  Wholly 
absorbed  in  his  rough  labour,  the  pioneer 
thought  only  of  the  extension  of  his  land. 
But  as  the  farm  grew,  as  the  family  in- 
creased, the  home  became  more  beautiful, 
more  comfortable,  and  better  protected.  A 
certain  degree  of  civilisation  was  introduced 
on  the  day  when,  relieved  from  some  of 
their  burdens,  the  daughters  had  a  part  in 
the  home  of  which  the  wife,  the  mistress  of 
the  house,  took  care,  and  which  she  now  had 
time  to  beautify.  Flowers  were  cultivated, 
as  well  as  vegetables.  In  the  evenings  the 
mother  did  some  light  work,  while  the 
daughters  attended  to  the  household  duties. 
During  the  day  the  men  hunted  and  the 
deer-skins  made  thick  carpets.  The  sur- 
plus of  the  farm  products  was  exchanged 
for  European  goods.  The  colonist's  hut 
became  a  house.  He  camped  out  no  longer. 
He  lived.  In  this  rising  world  decided  in- 
dividualities and  tastes  developed  without 
restraint.  Every  talent  was  useful,  and 
therefore  welcome.  Of  what  need  to  oppose 
them,  or  to  compel  them  to  turn  where  they 
would  bring  about  only  mediocre  results  ? 
Independence  submits  only  to  the  task  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       17 


/ 


being  useful,  of  contributing  to  the  happi- 
ness of  others,  of  doing  a  bee's  work  and 
not  a  hornet's. 

At  that  time  there  existed  Jlie__authority 
of  the  head  of  the  house,  before  which  every- 
thing yielded ;  of  the  mother  of  the  family, 
who  had  charge  ofthe  education  of  the  little 
ones  ;  and  this  authority  lasted  until  the 
day  when  the  settlement  was  able  to  build 
a  chapel  and  provide  for  the  maintenance 
of  a  pastor.  Sometimes  several  settlements 
united  together  in  the  choice  of  one  clergy- 
men who  visited  each  locality  in  turn,  hold- 
ing services.  The  chapel  was  the  centre, 
first  of  the  village,  then  of  the  town,  and 
finally  of  the  city.  Thus  Christianity  came, 
and  man  embraced  it.  In  the  majority  of 
cases,  it  was  woman  who  demanded  it.  Not 
that  men  were  indifferent,  but  they  knew 
better  how  to  calculate  than  to  plan.  A 
man  doubts  his  own  capabilities  and  his 
neighbours'  ;  he  hesitates  before  the  difficul- 
ties and  responsibilities  which  loom  up 
before  him.  It  is  the  wife  who,  pointing  to 
her  children,  convinces  him  of  the  value  of 
public  worship,  of  the  necessity  of  strength- 
ening and  maintaining  faith  by  higher  and 
more  persuasive  precepts  than  theirs.  She 
has  as  much  faith  as  he,  and  something  else, 
foresight.  After  this  question  was  decided, 


.18       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

came  the  one  of  schools,  and  it  seemed  as 
though  the  mother  had  no  further  wish. 
Together  they  provided  the  daily  bread ; 
they  gave  all  they  could — the  fruit  of  their 
labour,  which  sustains  life  ;  they  preserved 
and  kept  in  their  children  and  in  themselves 
the  religious  thought  which  caused  them  to 
leave  everything,  sacrifice  everything,  even 
their  native  country.  It  remained  for  them 
to  give  to  their  children  the  instruction 
which  they  themselves  had  received,  and 
which,  although  primitive,  made  free  beings 
of  them,  capable  of  believing  and  thinking. 
Then,  like  the  first,  this  latter  problem,  too, 
was  solved. 

When  several  settlements  had  united  they 
built  a  school — a  simple  hut,  common  to  all — 
to  which  they  called  a  master,  who,  although 
of  no  great  accomplishments,  could  teach 
reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic  to  the  young 
generation,  too  unwilling  as  yet  to  give  to 
study  more  than  a  few  hours  every  day. 
Strange  instruction  that,  and  strange  schools, 
\those,  in  which  girls  and  boys  sat  together, 
studying  the  same  lessons  from  the  same 
books  !  Nevertheless,  from  that  rude  hut 
came  the  woman  of  the  next  generation. 
Rude  and  rough  as  it  was,  and  shocking 
to  our  own  ideas,  it  was  the  starting  point 
of  the  civilising  influence  which  developed 


OF 


OF  TT?K 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

in  those  children  a  chivalrous  instinct  at 
that  time  still  unfelt ;  the  respect  for  her 
who  later  was  to  justify  the  American  say- 
ing, "  In  the  United  States,  woman  is 
queen." 

This  influence  which  the  future  had  in 
store  for  her,  the  woman  of  the  North  at 
that  time  possessed  and  used  only  within 
the  limited  home  circle  in  that  very  home 
which,  built  at  the  price  of  so  much  labour, 
was  about  to  become  uncertain  and  unsafe. 

From  England  came  new  settlers,  whose 
presence  should  have  increased  the  power 
and  strengthened  the  safety  of  the  first 
comers,  but  who  caused  new  and  unex- 
pected disturbances.  They  claimed  their 
part  of  the  land — passed  beyond  the  first 
settlers,  forcing  their  way  through  the 
forest,  pushing  it  before  them,  and  at  the 
same  time  driving  back  the  Indian  who 
dwelt  there,  whose  hunting  ground  and 
whose  home  it  was.  He  lived  there  and 
needed,  in  order  to  live,  not  a  few  acres  only, 
like  the  white  man  who  plants  and  reaps, 
but  great  tracts  of  territory  where  he  might 
hunt  the  game  on  which  he  subsisted,  and 
secure  the  furs  and  skins  in  which  he 
traded.  The  game  fled  before  the  invaders, 
and  the  Indian  was  forced  to  follow  it 
further  into  the  forest,  his  old  and  once 


20       THE  WOMEN  OF  TEE  UNITED  STATES. 

silent  home,  but  which  now  resounded  with 
the  hatchet  of  the  colonists,  with  the  crack- 
ling of  the  fires  which  they  lighted  in  order 
to  burn  the  weeds  and  destroy  the  stumps 
scattered  throughout  the  glades  where, 
daily,  new  huts  arose,  to  be  replaced  later 
by  substantial  houses.  Sheds  and  granaries 
surrounded  the  cleared  fields,  which  were 
at  last  inclosed  by  hedges  and  railings. 

At  this  gradual  intrusion,  the  Indian  at 
first  was  amazed  and  then  enraged.  His 
complaints  were  unheard.  From  being  well 
treated  and  even  courted  by  the  first  settlers, 
who  feared  him,  he  became  suspicious  and 
troublesome,  like  a  landowner  whom  one  dis- 
possesses without  right  and  without  com- 
pensation ;  a  threatening  enemy  whom  men 
had  just  cause  to  fear.  The  Englishman's 
inborn  scorn  of  an  inferior  race  increased 
against  these  superstitious  and  cruel  pagans 
who  rebelled  against  every  form  of  civili- 
sation as  against  all  religious  instruction  ; 
who  scalped  a  conquered  enemy,  and  offered 
human  sacrifices  to  their  bloodthirsty  divin- 
ities. It  is  true  that  the  Indians  were  the 
first  masters  of  the  soil,  but  they  knew 
not  how  to  hold  it.  By  right,  the  land 
belonged  to  the  more  intelligent  race  who 
cleared  it,  who  made  it  valuable,  who 
watered  it  with  the  sweat  of  the  brow,  who 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       21 

held  it  in  the  name  of  God  and  of  the  King, 
and  who  would  not  give  it  up.  This  meant 
war  with  the  Indian.  The  settlers  accepted 
the  inevitable,  and  began  their  prepara- 
tions. Their  farms  were  transformed  into 
fortresses  in  which  they  banded  together  as 
a  single  body. 

Such  a  condition  of  affairs  was  necessary 
if  they  were  to  renounce  instinctive  and 
voluntary  isolation,  and  bring  together  their 
fellow-patriots  who,  although  led  thither 
by  the  same  aspirations,  having  the  same 
language,  ideas,  and  religious  beliefs,  never- 
theless put  their  personal  independence 
above  everything,  and  jealously  shut  them- 
selves up  within  the  narrow  circle  of  their 
family.  It  was  indeed  necessary  to  break 
down  the  barriers,  to  join  together  in  com- 
mon cause  against  the  threatened  attack  of 
the  common  enemy.  All  for  one,  and  one 
for  all,  became  the  watchword.  They  met 
and  decided  on  a  code  of  signals  to  be  used 
in  case  of  danger  ;  they  elected  leaders  and 
made  ready  their  fire-arms.  In  each  colony 
all  the  able-bodied  men  were  enlisted  ;  from 
settlement  to  settlement  they  made  ready 
for  battle.  They  asked  England  for  aid, 
but  she  had  none  to  give.  Instead  of  sol- 
diers, she  granted  a  charter.  The  colonists 
made  good  use  of  this,  for  it  gave  them  the 


22       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

right  to  the  land  in  the  name  of  England, 
whose  possession  it  was  "by  right  of  dis- 
covery and  by  first  settlement."  Charles  I. 
then  fell  in  the  conflict  with  his  Parliament, 
and  the  English  Commonwealth,  under  the 
Lord-Protector,  Oliver  Cromwell,  had  enough 
to  do  to  rescue  Jamaica  from  Spain,  to  check 
the  growing  navigation  of  Holland,  and  to 
keep  Scotland  and  Ireland  quiet. 

The  settlers  could  no  longer  wait  for  aid. 
The  time  for  that  had  now  gone  by.  The 
fight  was  upon  them,  when  the  Pequot 
Indians  began  to  burn  and  pillage  the  settle- 
ments along  the  Connecticut  River.  In 
those  long  and  obscure  contests,  not  only 
was  the  courage  of  the  settlers  great,  but 
the  fortitude  of  the  women  was  astonishing. 
The  annals  of  the  times  tell  us  that  they 
were  as  brave  as  the  men,  warding  off  many 
an  attack  with  the  aid  of  the  daughters ; 
handling  their  muskets  as  they  would  a 
distaif ;  brave,  no  matter  how  many  the 
assailants,  and  not  hesitating  to  bury  them- 
selves under  their  burning  homes,  rather 
than  fall  alive  into  the  enemy's  hands.  A 
merciless  war  it  was,  without  quarter  from 
either  side.  Great  acts  of  treachery  were 
committed,  which  made  a  void  about  the 
settlements  and  which  cut  down  the  Indians 
like  ripe  grain.  So  far  was  he  pushed  into 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       23 

the  forest  that  there  was  no  further  thought 
of  following  him.  Then,  after  a  time,  men 
could  breathe  again.  The  effort  had  been 
great,  but  the  emigrant  remained  master,  and 
as  a  proof  of  this  still  held  fast  the  colony 
of  the  North,  where  he  had  stood  so  firm.  ~ 

Woman  was  again  raised  a  step  higher,  as  j 
the  companion  and  equal  of  man.  As  the  I 
common  danger  had  increased,  as  it  had 
tightened  the  bonds  already  strong,  as  it 
had  brought  kindred  spirits  together,  so  it 
united  the  settlements  and  bound  together 
the  scattered  colonies.  The  first  league  was 
formed  in  1643,  between  Massachusetts, 
Plymouth,  New  Haven,  and  Connecticut, 
under  the  name  of  New  England,  a  confed- 
eration which  was  the  cradle,  so  to  speak,  of 
the  great  American  Union. 


III. 

We  have  now  endeavoured  to  sketch 
woman's  position,  her  influence,  and  her 
characteristics,  in  the  settlements  of  the 
North  ;  later  on,  we  shall  find  what  time  and 
education  have  done  for  the  modern  Ameri- 
can woman.  But  this  Northern  woman 
was  not  the  only  type  existing  at  the  time. 
Simultaneously  there  appeared  another,  dif- 
fering in  conditions  but  not  in  origin  ;  one 


24       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

which  presented  a  striking  contrast  to  the 
first.  In  our  day  these  two  types  are 
united,  without  either  having  lost  its 
identity,  and  from  this  union  has  sprung 
the  American  woman  as  we  know  her ;  the 
characteristic  result  of  a  civilisation  other 
than  ours,  destined,  perhaps,  to  take  her 
elder  sister's  place,  and  one  whose  influence 
was  felt  long  ago,  although  unconsciously. 
A  short  time  after  the  Puritans  fled  from 
the  religious  persecution  of  the  Stuarts  to 
colonise  the  North,  the  defeated  subjects  of 
Charles  I.,  in  their  turn,  sought  the  haven 
of  the  New  World,  already  harassed  by 
anarchy  and  civil  war.  It  was  a  strange 
fate  which  threw  indiscriminately  upon  dis- 
tant shores  those  who,  holding  their  religion 
and  political  independence  above  all,  had 
not  hesitated  to  leave  their  fatherland. 
Strange  fate,  too,  that  which  from  the 
exodus  of  voluntary  exiles,  of  zealous  Prot- 
estants and  devout  Catholics,  of  passionate 
liberals  and  fanatical  royalists,  created  the 
citizens  of  this  great  Republic.  Instinct- 
ively, the  new  settlers  went  southward. 
They  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
Puritans  of  the  North,  except  race  and 
language.  Their  politics,  their  religion, 
even  their  ideas  of  social  life,  were  different. 
The  emigrants  of  the  North  belonged  to  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       25 

middle  class  ;  to  the  once  triumphant  party 
of  Cromwell,  which  slew  the  King  and 
usurped  his  power.  Virginia  was  a  royal 
colony  and  a  loyal  one.  She  had  her  charter 
of  incorporation  from  a  King.  The  royal- 
ists, emigrating,  settled  there,  and  that 
there  might  be  no  doubt  as  to  their  feeling, 
they  called  it  the  "  Old  Dominion,"  in  dis- 
tinction to  the  Commonwealth  of  England, 
which  they  hated.  "  Old  Dominion  "  meant 
to  them  the  old  royal  land  of  the  sovereign, 
who,  though  a  defeated  martyr,  still  sheltered 
them.  Eleven  years  later,  they  celebrated 
the  restoration  of  the  Stuarts  and  the  reign 
of  Charles  II. 

Royalty,  too,  was  a  religion  and  had  its 
stanch  followers.  Here,  too,  woman  held 
the  first  .place,  perhaps  because  she  is  more 
apt  to  become  enthusiastic  for  the  principle 
which  underlies  a  permanent  individuality, 
than  for  the  abstract  principle  represented 
by  transient  personalities.  Her  ideal  de- 
mands an  idol,  a  shrine  ;  and  for  those 
women  who  were  royalist  and  Catholic  by 
birth,  family,  and  education,  the  idol  had 
been  shattered,  the  temple  profaned.  So 
they  embarked,  as  desirous  as  the  men  to 
leave  a  country  whose  past  was  fast  dis- 
appearing, and  thus  was  brought  to  America 
a  new  element. 


26       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  race- trait  was  the  same  in  the 
Northern  settlers  as  in  the  South.  The 
union  of  the  settlers  was  no  more  desired 
by  the  South  than  by  the  North.  The 
Virginian  planter  was  as  isolated  on  his 
plantation  as  was  the  New  Englander  hus- 
bandman on  his  farm.  Both  required  large 
estates.  It  was  not  until  later  that  the  so- 
cial instinct,  created  and  developed  by  out- 
of-door  life,  made  itself  evident ;  but  from 
the  beginning  these  settlers,  as  in  England, 
needed  a  home,  large  or  small  as  the  case 
might  be.  They  needed  land,  and  also  ser- 
vants, and  tenants  who  did  not  exist ;  but 
for  whom  they  substituted  slaves.  Every- 
where slavery  was  tolerated,  but  it  existed 
in  the  South  as  nowhere  else.  The  Puritan 
accepted  it  also,  but  always  with  a  feeling 
of  dislike,  as  a  sort  of  makeshift,  and  a 
restricted  and  limited  one.  He  feared  its 
despotism  over  his  family  and  himself.  His 
conscience  condemned  it ;  he  preferred  free 
labour,  which,  in  his  harsh  climate,  the  na- 
ture of  his  tillage  made  necessary.  Not  so, 
however,  in  the  South.  Many  slaves  were 
needed  both  on  the  tobacco  plantations  and 
in  the  households.  Tobacco  was  not  only 
a  product ;  it  was  coin.  Salaries,  merchan- 
dise, even  taxes  were  paid  in  it ;  and  once 
every  year  English  ships  carried  it  to  Eng- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       27 

land  as  part  of  their  cargo,  exchanging  for 
it  such  articles  as  the  colonists  would  take. 
What  strikes  one  first  of  all  in  regard 
to  these  two  distinct  emigrations,  notwith- 
standing their  common  origin  and  instincts, 
and  the  fact  that  they  came  from  the  same 
land  to  the  same  land,  is  their  difference  of 
tradition,  of  social  atmosphere,  of  education 
and  of  life.  The  royalist  settler  brought  to 
Virginia  with  the  last  remnants  of  his  for- 
tune, his  ideas,  his  fears,  and  his  hopes. 
Lord  or  not,  as  it  might  be,  he  was  English, 
and  as  such  a  man  of  business,  who  knew 
what  he  was  about ;  accustomed  to  handle 
estates,  to  carry  on  and  manage  large  trans- 
actions. On  this  new  continent,  where  the 
still  useless  soil  was  to  be  of  such  value, 
he  speedily  amassed  a  new  fortune.  He 
enjoyed  a  monopoly  in  the  tobacco  which 
Europe  craved,  and  which  his  slaves  pro- 
duced at  the  lowest  possible  cost  to  sell  for 
the  highest  price,  and  the  demand  for  which 
increased  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of 
cultivation.  In  this  new  country  woman's 
influence  was  supreme.  In  leaving  Eng- 
land, she  did  not  leave  her  habits  and  tradi- 
tions. Every  emigrant,  rich  or  poor,  carried 
his  own  world  with  him — an  invisible  world 
of  ideas,  the  result  of  his  early  training,  or 
bequeathed  to  him  by  preceding  genera- 


28       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tions.  To  this  world,  even  though  freed 
from  his  country,  he  was  for  many  years  a 
slave.  Is  not  this  the  germ  of  that  individ- 
uality, which  made  the  settler  differ  from 
the  native,  who  thought  himself  superior  to 
him  whose  lands  he  occupied,  and  whom  he 
trod  down  and  suppressed  ?  In  this  respect 
alone  the  settler  felt  himself  superior  to  the 
Indian,  his  neighbour  ;  he  was  the  country's 
chosen  and  predestined  ruler.  An  aristocrat 
by  birth,  with  strong  race  and  class  preju- 
dices, the  newcomer,  woman,  strove  to 
implant  her  ideas  in  this  new  soil ;  to  revive 
the  distinctions  of  rank  and  caste  ;  to  teach 
to  the  modern  American  woman  her  own 
feeling  of  social  superiority,  her  respect  for 
ancestry,  for  name,  and  for  descent — ideas 
which  contrast  strongly  with  the  republican 
feelings  of  a  later  day. 

Already,  in  1773,  the  Harvard  students 
were  classified,  not  according  to  age  or 
merit,  but  according  to  the  position  held 
by  their  parents  in  the  social  world. 
Mistress  and  Lady  of  the  Manor,  the  South-'1 
erner  fulfilled  her  duties  and  claimed  her 
privileges.  Her  husband's  home  was  noted 
for  its  hospitality.  The  Southern  "gentle- 
men" had  preserved  not  only  the  narrow 
life  of  the  court  of  the  Stuarts,  but  also  its 
framework.  On  their  prosperous  planta- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       29 

tions  rose  great  mansions,  resembling  the 
English  castles,  with  their  massive  chimneys, 
pointed  roofs,  mahogany  staircases,  long 
and  narrow  windows,  and  wide  piazzas. 
Social  traditions  also  were  retained.  The 
memoirs  of  Mrs.  Quincy,  who  revives  this 
lost  world  in  her  writings,  show  the  people 
faithful  to  English  manners  and  customs  ; 
ceremonious,  using  a  haughty  courtesy 
towards  inferiors ;  maintaining  their  rank 
and  position  ;  putting  between  the  slave  and 
themselves  the  intermediate  service  of  a 
white  major-domo,  or  valet.  A  lady  of  that 
period  advertised  in  the  Maryland  Gazette 
that  she  was  in  need  of  a  lackey — "One  who 
would  serve  at  table,  clean  the  knives,  lay 
the  cloth,  and  carry  orders  ;  who  knew  how 
to  cut  and  curl  the  hair,  who  could  speak 
French,  who  would  be  as  honest  as  the  times 
would  allow,  and  as  sober  as  he  knew  how 
to  be," 

Mrs.  Peace  Hazard  of  Newport,  R.  L, 
relates  a  story  of  how  her  grandmother, 
after  having  divided  the  greater  part 
of  her  fortune  among  her  children,  con- 
gratulated herself  upon  her  return  to 
"a  simple  life."  She  had  reduced  the 
number  of  her  domestics  to  seventy.  She 
still  had  six  thousand  acres  of  land  and 
four  thousand  sheep,  whose  fleece  was  suffi- 


30       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

cient  to  clothe  her  entire  household.  Her 
dairy  required  twenty-four  slaves,  each  of 
whom  had  charge  of  twelve  cows,  and  whose 
duty  it  was  to  make  from  a  dozen  to  twenty- 
four  cheeses  a  day. 

The  residence  of  the  Lee  family  at  Marble- 
head  cost  ten  thousand  pounds ;  that  of 
Godfrey  Malbone  at  Newport  twenty  thou- 
sand pounds ;  enormous  sums  for  that 
period.  The  Wentworth  house  at  Ports- 
mouth contained  fifty-two  rooms.  It  was 
a  free-and-easy  life  which  the  colonists  led, 
and  luxurious  in  a  primitive  fashion.  It 
was  a  life  which  left  to  the  woman  her  cus- 
tomary duties,  and  to  the  husband  and  sons 
sufficient  leisure  for  hunting,  fishing,  racing, 
and  other  sports.  A  new  race  grew  up, 
which  felt  itself  superior  by  blood  and 
birth,  as  well  as  by  habit  and  the  responsi- 
bility of  command  ;  by  a  refinement  of 
manner  and  an  intellectual  pre-eminence  in 
the  entirely  English  pursuit  of  physical 
exercises.  It  was  a  race  which,  when  there 
came  to  be  an  American  Union,  would 
give  it  legislators,  statesmen,  warriors, 
governors,  and  administrators,  a  Congress, 
and  an  army, — a  race  which  would  assert 
the  supremacy  of  the  South  over  the  North, 
until  the  time  when  it  should  itself  fall  in 
the  bloodiest  civil  war  that  the  world  has 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       31 

ever  seen.  Meanwhile,  these  Southern 
settlements  were  a  sort  of  prelude  to  the 
great  future.  Wholly  royalist  by  tradition, 
they  were,  before  all  else,  independent  by 
instinct.  With  them  their  inborn  feeling 
gave  way  before  another.  They  loved  Eng- 
land, they  honoured  the  King,  but  they 
were  Virginians,  and  if,  in  the  War  of  Inde-j 
pendence,  some  few  remained  faithful  to  thei 
mother-country,  the  greater  number  broke \ 
away,  and  voluntarily  took  up  arms,  lead- 
ing on  to  battle  and  to  glory  the  Northern 
settlers  who  followed  them,  and  who  grate- 
fully gave  to  them  the  duty  of  directing  the 
troublous  destinies  of  the  Republic  which 
unconsciously  they  were  establishing.  The 
fight  was  an  heroic  though  a  bloody  one. 
The  women  willingly  gave  to  it  their  hus- 
bands and  sons,  and  even  in  this  war  they 
showed  distinctive  characteristics. 

Occasionally  were  seen  the  chivalry  and 
courtesy  of  Fontenoy.  A  vague  odour  of  the 
old  aristocracy  seemed  to  linger  about  the 
cradle  of  this  utilitarian  Democracy.  Two 
Virginian  colonists,  Washington  and  Lee, 
took  command  of  the  armies  of  the  growing 
Republic,  and  to  them  flocked  numbers  of 
volunteers,  almost  all  Frenchmen.  When, 
in  1781,  Washington  disembarked  at  New- 
port, he  was  saluted  by  four  French  regi- 


t 

UNIVERSITY 


32        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ments,  the  Bourbon,  Soisson,  Sainton,  and 
Deux-Ponts  ;  by  Rochambeau,  by  the  Prince 
de  Broglie,  by  the  Viscomte  de  Noailles, 
by  the  Due  de  Deux-Ponts,  afterwards 
King  of  Bavaria  ;  by  Lauzun  and  Admiral 
Ternay  ;  and  by  the  Adonis  of  the  century, 
Count  Fersen.  In  the  midst  of  four  thou- 

rsand  brilliant  red-and-white  uniforms,  bear- 
ing standards  on  which  was  embroidered 
the  fleur-de-lis,  stood  Washington,  at  the 
head  of  the  Continental  troops,  whose  worn 
and  soiled  regimentals  and  tattered  flags 
were  the  witnesses  of  their  past  battles. 
Amid  the  applause  of  the  smiling  women, 
on  whom  the  soldiers'  glances  lingered,  the 
American  general  advanced,  while  the 
cannon  thundered  out  salutes  worthy  of  a 
French  marshal.  In  the  evening,  Rocham- 
beau gave  a  ball  which  Washington  opened 
with  dignity,  dancing  the  minuet  with  the 
belle  of  Newport,  Miss  Champlain.  The 
French  saw  this,  and  taking  the  instruments 
away  from  the  musicians  they  played  the 
"Conquering  Hero,"  amid  the  applause  of 
an  enthusiastic  audience.  A  battle  followed 
the  ball,  and  the  gay  dancers  marched 
bravely  to  the  attack,  took  Yorktown,  and 
forced  the  English  army  to  surrender  and 
withdraw.  "  Only  one  discordant  note 
was  heard,"  says  Mrs.  Quincy,  in  her  jour- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       33 

nal,  "and  that  was  the  more  than  cold 
reception  that  Washington  and  the  French 
armies  received  from  the  German  settlers." 
To  this  war,  which  lasted  for  eight  years, 
Virginia  alone  sent  not  only  26,678  men, 
but  almost  all  the  officers  for  the  231,791 
soldiers.  The  Northern  women  had  offered 
resistance,  but  the  Southern  never  showed 
lack  of  courage  or  resolution.  Patriotic 
during  the  entire  period,  woman's  influence 
told,  when  at  last  independence  brought 
peace  and  the  social  life  of  the  South 
dawned  in  the  North.  New  York  was 
already  a  city,  the  great  port  of  entry  to 
the  sea  and  to  the  whole  continent.  In 
1789  its  population  amounted  to  33,000,  the 
most  of  which  were  emigrants,  merchants, 
tradesmen,  and  shipowners ;  the  beginning 
of  a  cosmopolitan  society  (curiously  de- 
scribed in  letters  of  the  times)  in  which  the 
Dutch  element  of  1621  was  entirely  distinct 
from  the  English.  But  even  then  there  ex- 
isted that  feminine  exclusiveness  which  was 
afterwards  so  strongly  developed  in  New 
York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  Cincinnati,  and 
throughout  the  South  and  the  West ;  an  ex- 
clusiveness as  rigid  as  it  ever  was  in  Eng- 
land. Mrs.  Knox,  wife  of  General  Knox,  the 
Minister  of  War,  was  the  leader  of  the  bon 
ton,  and  society's  model ;  an  odd  one  if  we 


34       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

may  judge  from  a  description  in  one  of  Dr. 
Manasseh  Cutler's  letters.  He  writes :  "  Her 
table  is  served  after  the  French  fashion. 
As  to  her,  she  affects  (on  account  of  her 
husband's  position)  a  bold  manner  which 
is  not  pleasing  in  a  woman.  She  wears  her 
hair  frizzed  in  front,  and  built  up  at  the 
back,  about  a  foot  high,  over  a  sort  of  head- 
piece made  of  wire,  which  it  covers  but 
does  not  hide.  From  this  float  black  gauze 
streamers  to  her  waist,  and  are  held  in  place 
by  a  huge  comb.  She  is  enormous,  like  her 
husband.  Both  are  considered  here  the 
most  monstrous  couple  in  the  New  World. 
On  the  other  hand  they  are  most  hospitable  ; 
always  ready  to  welcome  strangers  ;  always 
giving  dinners,  which  in  themselves  are  an 
indispensable  passport  to  every  newcomer." 

To  the  aristocracy  of  birth  which  was 
incarnate  in  ~the  Southerner,  was  added  a 
new  aristocracy,  that  of  the  official  world, 
which  revolved  about  the  President  and  his 
Cabinet,  one  in  which  a  social  decree  was 
as  important  as  the  affairs  of  State,  but  the 
influence  of  which  scarcely  passed  beyond 
the  limits  of  the  political  capital  of  the 
time. 

It  was  a  world  in  itself,  curious  in  more 
than  its  mere  name,  and  one  which  we  shall 
have  an  opportunity  of  studying  later.  At 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       35 

this  time  it  was  but  just  born.  Congress 
was  as  yet  without  a  fixed  meeting  place. 
It  moved  from  city  to  city,  and  even  in  case 
of  great  need  a  quorum  could  be  called  only 
at  great  cost.  Membership  for  which  to-day 
there  is  so  much  dispute,  was  despised  at 
that  time.  The  distances  were  great ;  the 
expense  of  a  session  was  heavy.  To  accept 
George  Washington's  resignation  it  was 
with  great  trouble  that  twenty  Congressmen 
were  called  together,  the  smallest  number 
required  for  a  vote,  and  they  represented 
only  seven  Colonies.  A  simplicity  wholly 
republican  prevailed,  from  the  beginning, 
in  this  official  world  which  was  composed 
of  the  President's  Cabinet  and  of  the 
foreign  representatives.  George  Washing- 
ton was  economical,  and  Mrs.  Washington, 
whom  the  Northerners  reproached  for  hav- 
ing introduced  into  the  growing  Republic 
"the  luxury  and  etiquette  of  a  Court" 
offered  to  his  guests  only  "a  cup  of  tea  or 
coffee,  some  smoked  tongue,  some  roast 
meat,  arid  buttered  toast."  At  nine  o'clock 
she  would  remind  them  that  the  General 
kept  early  hours,  and  all  left  the  house  on 
foot,  preceded  by  a  servant  with  lanterns. 
When  the  President  was  uat  home"  a  butler 
announced  the  guests,  Washington  bowed 
without  shaking  hands,  a  circle  formed 


30       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

about  him ;  he  spoke  a  few  words  and  then 
withdrew.  One  cannot  imagine  anything 
more  formal.  Mrs.  Adams,  wife  of  the 
Vice-President ;  Mrs.  Hamilton,  of  whom 
Brissot  de  Warville  says,  "  She  added  the 
candour  and  simplicity  of  an  American  to 
all  the  other  feminine  attractions"  ;  Mrs. 
Jay,  " imposing  but  agreeable";  Mme.  de 
Brehan,  sister  of  the  Comte  de  Moustier, 
Minister  from  France,  "an  odd  little  woman 
fantastic  and  affected,"  to  whom  once,  when 
Jefferson  was  repeating  some  gallant  society 
talk  to  her,  he  declared  that  his  country- 
women could  not  do  better  than  to  take 
her  for  their  model — all  these,  with  Mrs. 
Washington,  composed  the  elite  in  the 
official  salons,  of  which  economical  Oliver 
Wolcott  wrote  to  his  wife:  "You  can 
come  here  without  fear ;  the  example  of  the 
President  and  his  surroundings  make  all 
display  not  only  useless,  but  in  poor  taste." 
When  Congress,  after  having  in  July, 
1790,  decided  to  build  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac  its  future  seat,  it  chose  Philadel- 
phia as  a  temporary  meeting  place,  until  the 
city  of  Washington  was  ready  to  receive  it. 
This  city  became  the  rendezvous  of  French 
emigrants,  of  visitors  from  the  North  and 
South,  in  short,  the  capital  of  the  United 
States.  It  was  renowned  even  then  for  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       37 

beauty  of  its  women,  and  strove  to  rival 
New  York.  "The  belles  here,"  wrote 
Rebecca  Franks,  afterwards  Lady  John- 
ston, "  have  more  attractions  in  their  eyes 
alone,  than  the  New  York  beauties  have  in 
their  whole  persons."  Brissot  de  Warville 
praises  them  warmly,  but  calls  them  af- 
fected; the  Comte  de  Rochambeau  reproaches 
them  for  over-dressing.  Both  are  astonished 
at  the  young  girls'  freedom  of  speech  and 
manner,  although  both  pronounce  them  very 
fascinating.  They  were  indeed  this,  accord- 
ing to  the  opinion  of  their  contemporaries. 
When  the  English  Minister  said  courteously 
to  Senator  Tracy  of  Connecticut,  "Your 
American  women  would  be  admired  even  at 
St.  James's,"  Tracy  replied,  "  I  do  not  doubt 
it ;  they  are  much  admired  at  Litchfield 
Hill." 

If  in  this  society  the  customs,  usages,  and 
manners  were  still  a  blending  of  English 
and  French,  which  the  women  copied  and  at 
times  exaggerated,  certain  individual  and 
characteristic  traits  stood  out  most  clearly. 
Of  these  the  most  marked  was  the  independ- 
ence of  the  young  girls  who  had  so  discon- 
certed Brissot,  and  their  careless  behaviour, 
which,  however,  was  much  modified  by  a 
womanly  instinct,  except  for  the  masculine 
manner  which  some  bold  coquettes  affected. 


38        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Miss  Rebecca  Franks  tells  of  their  meeting 
at  early  dawn,  in  order  to  drink  punch  ;  of 
their  copying  the  men's  voices,  of  their 
being  mad  over  gambling.  Coquettes  they 
were  and  always  will  be,  but  they  acted  as 
did  Minerva,  who  though  she  was  the  goddess 
of  wisdom  was  none  the  less  woman.  The 
moment  she  saw  from  a  pool  of  water  that 
her  puffed  out  cheeks  disfigured  her,  she 
ceased  playing  the  flute  ;  and  so  these  women 
gave  up  punch  and  card-playing,  still  retain- 
ing the  art  of  flirtation,  which  they  raised  to 
a  science.  Mrs.  Abigail  Adams,  wife  of  the 
second  President  of  the  Republic,  gives  an 
amusing  sketch  of  the  city  of  Washington 
and  of  life  at  the  White  House.  Washing- 
ton was  hardly  built,  yet  the  President  and 
his  Cabinet  and  Ministers  were  there.  The 
White  House  was  only  a  huge  incomplete 
barrack,  with  half  finished  rooms,  without 
bells,  without  even  its  inner  walls.  It  was 
a  freezing  winter,  and  at  times  the  President 
could  find  no  one  who  was  willing  to  bring 
him  kindling-wood  from  the  neighbouring 
forest. 

Mrs.  Adams  wrote  to  a  friend:  "I 
reached  Washington  last  Sunday.  On  leav- 
ing Baltimore  we  were  lost  in  the  woods 
and  went  eight  or  nine  miles,  I  should 
think,  in  the  direction  of  Fredericksburg. 


UNIVT 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


We  were  obliged  to  retrace  our  steps  about 
eight  miles,  but  we  could  not  find  the  road 
this  time  either,  and  wandered  about  for 
two  hours  before  meeting  a  guide.  Here  I 
am  at  last,  not  without  some  trouble,  in  a 
city  which  is  such  in  name  alone." 

A  little  later  she  wrote  again,  saying  that 
a  schooner  had  just  arrived  from  Phila- 
delphia, with  all  the  state  furniture  ;  besides 
five  little  cases  containing  the  archives  of 
the  Republic.  In  a  postscript  she  added 
that  the  archives  had  been  stored  in  a  shop 
and  had  been  burned  during  the  night. 
Later  she  notes,  as  something  exceptional, 
that  on  one  day  she  received  fifteen  calls. 
"We  want  nothing  here,"  wrote  Gouver- 
neur  Morris,  "unless  it  be  houses,  cellars, 
kitchens,  agreeable  people,  amiable  women, 
and  some  few  other  insignificant  details." 

Under  Madison  these  needs  increased  ; 
the  city  grew,  as  well  as  the  population, 
and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  gossip  about 
Mrs.  Madison's  receptions.  She  received, 
"gowned  in  a  red  velvet  pelisse  ;  as  though 
it  was  Sunday,  and  she  going  to  service,  on 
her  head  she  wore  a  large  hat  trimmed  with 
lace;"  "an  elegant  costume,"  writes  Mrs. 
Qtiincy,  "  but  not  exactly  suited  to  a  home 
reception."  On  another  occasion  she  writes, 
"  She  [Mrs.  Madison]  wore  a  black  velvet 


40       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

gown,  and  a  turban  trimmed  with  poppies. 
About  her  throat  was  a  collar  of  the  same 
colour."  She  was  tall,  strong,  of  pleasing 
appearance,  and  beloved  by  her  entire 
household.  Mrs.  Monroe,  who  succeeded 
her  in  the  White  House,  was  a  niece  of 
General  Knox.  When  on  a  visit  to  Paris, 
where  she  went  with  her  husband,  then 
Minister  from  the  United  States,  she  was 
called  "  the  beautiful  American."  She  had 
the  haughty  and  condescending  manners  of 
a  princess.  A  letter  of  this  period  describes 
her  at  one  of  her  receptions,  "  surrounded 
by  her  two  daughters,  Mrs.  Hay  and  Mrs. 
Governeur,  as  beautiful  as  their  mother." 
"  She  wore  a  black  velvet  gown  en  traine, 
which  set  off  her  perfect  figure ;  her 
shoulders  and  arms  were  bare,  her  hair  was 
raised  and  puffed,  with  ostrich  feathers  in  it ; 
about  her  throat  was  a  rich  string  of  pearls. 
There  is  always  a  strange  crowd  in  her 
drawing-rooms.  The  Southern  aristocracy 
elbows  its  way  there  among  the  democracy 
of  the  North.  One  meets  John  Kandolph 
in  his  riding  costume,  booted  and  spurred  ; 
members  of  Congress  in  thick,  greased 
boots  ;  ambassadors  in  knee-breeches  and 
silk  hose."  The  elite  preferred  the  recep- 
tions of  the  French  ambassador  to  these 
mixed  salons ;  those  of  Hyde  de  Neuville ; 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.        41 

of  Mr.  Bagot,  the  English  Minister,  whose 
wife,  niece  of  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  led 
the  fashion ;  of  Mrs.  Jonathan  Russell, 
where  were  always  to  be  found  the  two 
belles  of  the  day,  Mrs.  Hull  and  Miss  Ran- 
dolph, a  granddaughter  of  Jefferson,  whose 
grace  was  so  much  admired  and  whose 
sharp  wit  was  so  feared. 

Society  was  still  in  a  chaotic  state,  but 
one  in  which  the  constitutional  elements 
were  discernible.  A  new  type  had  appeared, 
which  tended  towards  social  freedom. 
"  America  for  Americans,"  said  Monroe,  and 
this  caught  votes.  The  settler  became  the 
American.  More  than  thirty  years  had 
passed  since  the  winning  of  national  inde- 
pendence. The  sons  of  the  first  settlers 
were  imbued  with  the  ideas  and  traditions 
of  the  mother-country ;  those  who  had 
fought  and  conquered,  and  who  had  estab- 
lished the  Republic  ;  Puritans  and  Liberals 
in  the  North ;  Loyalists  and  Royalists,  but 
yet  Independents  in  the  South,  each  had  a 
place  in  the  New  World.  The  race  had 
grown.  It  had  been  differently  brought  up 
and  with  other  ideas. 

By  principle  as  much  as  by  necessity 
a  special  system  of  public  education  had 
been  established.  Girls  and  boys  took 
the  same  courses,  played  the  same  games, 


42       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  were  subjected  to  the  same  discipline. 
It  was  in  these  public  schools  that  the 
new  generation  was  formed ;  in  these 
primitive  and  rudimentary  schools,  whose 
origin,  character,  and  mode  of  teaching 
did  not  justify  the  fear  which  naturally 
enough  was  roused  by  the  contact  of  the 
two  sexes.  The  results  of  this  education 
'are  worthy  of  notice ;  and  here  it  is  neces- 
sary to  go  back  a  step,  in  order  to  explain 
the  difference  between  the  American  woman 
of  that  day  and  of  this  with  her  freedom  of 
manner,  her  independence,  and  her  instinct- 
ive experience.  It  is  to  these  accounts, 
supplemented  by  personal  observation,  that 
we  shall  turn,  and  show  in  as  clear  a  manner 
as  possible  the  results  of  an  education  as 
diametrically  opposed  to  our  ideas  as  it  is 
to  our  traditions. 


IV. 

The  first  occasion  on  which  I  studied  the 
details  of  an  American  public  school  was  at 
the  annual  examination,  a  great  educational 
gala  day,  which  interests  parents  as  well 
as  the  students  and  professors  of  Punahou 
College,  established  near  Honolulu  by  the 
American  residents  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 
Although  a  Frenchman  I  was  asked  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       43 

preside,  and  I  questioned  the  students 
according  to  a  pre-arranged  programme 
and  assigned  them  their  respective  ranks. 
Theoretically,  I  understand  the  function  of 
these  schools,  which  correspond  to  our 
lycees,  and  which  include  the  classes 
between  our  fifth  grade  and  that  of 
rhetoric  inclusive.  Punahou  College  was 
(except  of  course,  in  regard  to  certain 
interior  arrangements  which  the  tropical 
climate  demanded)  an  exact  reproduction 
of  some  of  the  smaller  colleges  which  I 
have  visited  in  the  United  States.  Richly 
endowed,  provided  with  an  excellent 
faculty,  with  a  complete  course  in  science 
and  letters,  this  institution  accommodated 
about  150  students,  among  whom  there 
were  as  many  day  students  as  boarders. 
The  main  part,  a  vast  two-story  building, 
well  aired,  looked  out  upon  a  large  garden, 
upon  a  sloping  lawn,  and  upon  the  sea,  and 
contained  the  rooms  of  the  principal  and 
his  wife,  the  recitation  rooms,  the  court- 
yard, dining-rooms,  infirmary,  linen-closets, 
library,  etc.  The  main  building  had  two 
wings  at  right  angles,  inclosing  a  large 
playground,  and  containing  the  rooms  of 
the  boarding-pupils.  The  right  wing  shut 
in  those  of  the  boys  ;  the  west,  those  of  the 
girls.  Both  sexes  studied  in  the  same 


44       TUE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

rooms,  took  their  meals  in  common,  and 
worked,  played,  and  talked  together.  The 
youngest  were  twelve  years  of  age,  the 
oldest  twenty.  Although  ignorant  of  none 
of  these  details,  I  could  not  resist  wonder- 
ing as  to  the  practicability  of  the  theory, 
of  which  I  approve.  Involuntarily,  I 
recalled  my  own  college  days  in  Paris.  I 
called  up  amusing  "pictures  of  my  fellow- 
students  ;  of  our  bold  manner,  under  which 
was  hidden  a  great  depth  of  timidity  and 
embarrassment ;  our  jests,  which  ill  con- 
cealed our  romantic  aspirations ;  a  mixture 
of  naive  credulity  and  ignorant  precocity, 
childish  illusions  and  affected  scepticism 
which,  with  most  of  us,  was  a  better  learned 
lesson  than  that  of  any  professor.  I  asked 
myself,  without  being  able  to  answer,  what 
would  have  happened  if  these  young  girls 
whom  we  followed  with  curiosity,  who 
under  their  mother's  wing  passed  us  in 
the  street — if  they  had  been  allowed  to 
take  part  in  our  amusements  and  our  work, 
to  be  our  companions  and  our  rivals  every 
day  and  every  hour,  in  classes  as  well  as 
in  the  dining-room,  in  the  playground  as 
on  the  street?  It  was  in  vain  I  said  to 
myself,  that  things  are  so  here,  for  I  can- 
not imagine  them  so  where  I  have  been 
educated.  What  appeared  to  me  so  simple 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       45 

in  the  New  World  looked  quite  strangely 
complicated  in  the  Old.  I  concluded  (an 
easy  conclusion,  in  that  it  cut  short  the 
difficulties  and  saved  any  deeper  researches) 
that  the  American  mind  is  not  like  ours ; 
that  "one  man's  meat  is  another  man's 
poison. " 

Going  deeper  I  ended  Jby  mastering  the 
situation,  by  understanding  arid  admiring 
it.  For  this,  both  time  and  a  close  exami- 
nation were  necessary.  I  had  to  study  the 
mechanism,  the  tarn  of  the  wheels,  as  it 
were,  and  take  into  consideration  those 
elements  which  are  alike  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic,  but  which  are  cramped  and 
falsified  by  our  advanced  and  rather 
enervated  civilisation.  I  can  point  out 
the  advantages  and  the  disadvantages  of 
the  system.  The  schools  to  which  I  refer 
were,  in  the  first  place,  the  result  of  cir- 
cumstances, as  we  have  shown — of  the 
sparse  population  in  settlements  scattered 
at  first,  but  which  later  on  drew  more  and 
more  toward  a  common  centre.  They  were 
also,  by  reason  of  the  traditions  and 
the  temperament  of  the  race,  and  their 
religious  influence  and  social  conditions, 
the  result  of  an  intelligent  and  in  every 
way  healthful  conception  of  life.  We 
reach  it  by  offering  higher  courses  of 


46        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

study  and  by  giving  greater  opportunities 
to  both  sexes.  We  commence  at  one  end  ; 
the  Americans,  at  the  other.  Their  efforts 
were  rude  and  rough,  but  they  discovered 
under  the  English  traditions,  which  were 
rather  brutal  in  the  manner  of  education 
as  in  all  else,  those  happy  tendencies,  still 
in  a  rudimentary  state,  which  developed 
with  time.  The  few  documents  of  those 
days  show  us  how  the  public  and  primary 
schools  were  managed  where  girls  and  boys 
together  received  the  first  and  deep  impres- 
sions of  childhood.  They  show  us  the 
mode  of  corporal  punishment  that  was 
inflicted,  the  use  of  the  ferule,  and  that 
strange  appeal  to  chivalrous  sentiments 
which  allowed  the  young  boys  to  take 
upon  themselves  the  punishment  of  their 
companions,  and  offer  themselves  as  substi- 
tutes. Mr.  Richard  M.  Johnston,  professor 
in  the  University  of  Georgia,1  gives  among 
other  writings  a  little  sketch,  made  on  the 
spot,  of  this  singular  custom.  He  intro- 
duces us  into  Mr.  Lorriby's  school.  Mr. 
Lorriby,  he  says,  "did  not  belong  to  the 

'M.  de  Varigny  is  evidently  citing  his  author  from 
memory.  The  book  to  which  he  here  refers  is  Oddities 
of  Southern  Life  and  Character  by  Henry  Watterson 
(Boston,  1883) ;  and  his  apparent  quotation  which  follows 
is  in  reality  a  paraphrase. — TRANSLATOR. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       47 

category  of  severe  masters.  He  was  both 
good  and  diplomatic.  A  newcomer  in  the 
settlement,  and  poor,  he  understood  very 
well  how  to  act  and  how  to  follow  out  the 
ideas  of  those  among  whom  he  lived.  He 
inclined  towards  gentleness,  but  on  the 
slightest  pretence  he  was  ready  to  use 
rougher  measures,  if  a  desire  for  such  was 
expressed.  This,  unfortunately,  was  the 
case.  Some  parents  complained  because 
no  punishment  was  used.  One  of  them 
unfortunately  had  heard  the  fable  of  the 
frogs  who  begged  for  a  king,  so  Mr.  Lorriby 
was  nicknamed  'Old  King  Log.'  Another 
parent  threatened  to  take  away  his  children 
and  put  his  son  on  a  farm  and  his  daughter 
to  mending  the  linen.  They  loved  their 
children  then  as  much  as  we  do  now, 
but  they  had  odd  ways  of  showing  their 
affection.  The  parents  were  never  better 
pleased  than  when  their  child  had  been 
punished  at  school.  They  appreciated 
instruction,  but  believed  that  in  the  ferule 
lay  great  virtues.  The  schools  were,  in 
some  respects,  caves  of  Trophonius.  Boys 
and  girls  passed  through  them  by  a  series 
of  incomprehensible  mysteries.  The  idea, 
then,  was  that  the  ferule  was  indispensable 
for  inculcating  knowledge  and  making  it 
sink  deep  into  the  mind  through  the  skin. 


48       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  generations  who  preceded  us  passed 
beyond  that ;  it  was  our  turn.  I  cannot  ex- 
plain this  fact  except  by  admitting  that  the 
minds  of  our  parents  were  so  upset  by  this 
method  of  teaching  that  they  could  under- 
stand no  other,  nor  could  they  reason  with 
any  sense  on  the  subject.  They  thought 
that  men  resembled  beasts  :  that  a  dog  was 
more  faithful  to  the  master  who  beat  him, 
and  that  there  was  nothing  better  for  a 
mule  than  to  be  worn  out  by  fatigue  and 
used  up  by  blows,  before  finding  himself 
face  to  face  with  a  well-furnished  manger. 

"They  themselves  had  been  so  roughly 
treated  at  school  that  they  carried  away 
with  them  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  gratitude. 
They  heard  with  satisfaction  their  children's 
complaints ;  their  accounts  of  daily  flights 
from  school  gratified  them.  The  less 
deserved  was  the  punishment  the  more 
healthful  it  seemed.  When  the  master 
without  any  visible  motive  chastised  an 
entire  class  and  made  the  scholars  puzzle 
their  brains  as  to  the  value  of  such  proceed- 
ings, the  mystery  increased  the  physical 
impression,  and  the  parents  rejoiced  men- 
tally. It  recalled  their  own  young  days, 
they  said,  and  they  concluded  that  since 
they  had  survived  it,  the  system  ought  to 
be  a  good  one.  We  meet  in  life  with  so 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       49 

many  blows  whose  cause  and  effect  quite 
pass  our  comprehension !  When  Mr.  Lor- 
riby  had  done  what  the  parents  expected, 
he  revealed  himself  in  an  entirely  new  light. 
"One  certain  Monday  morning  he  told  us 
that  we  must  expect  a  change  of  rule  ;  and  to 
tell  the  truth,  we  did  not  have  to  wait  long 
for  it.  Before  the  end  of  the  recitation  more 
than  one  among  us  was  rubbing  his  aching 
back.  The  girls  suffered  nothing,  with  one 
exception,  and  as  this  was  the  first  time  I 
had  witnessed  a  like  event,  I  was  naturally 
impressed.  The  delinquent  (neither  she  nor 
I  nor  any  of  the  others  knew  what  wrong 
she  had  done)  was  Susan  Potter.  She  was 
twelve  years  old,  tall  and  beautiful  for  her 
age.  In  bidding  her  at  first  politely  to 
approach  in  order  to  feel  his  ferule,  Mr.  L. 
asked,  as  if  the  most  natural  thing  in  the 
world,  and  one  which  surprised  none  of  us, 
whether  among  the  boys  there  was  someone 
who  was  disposed  to  take  Susan's  punish- 
ment upon  himself.  After  a  moment's 
silence  and  to  my  great  astonishment  Sea- 
born Byne,  my  neighbour,  rose  and  offered 
himself  as  substitute.  He  did  it  with  the 
bearing  of  a  boy  doing  a  deed  of  courtesy 
and  fearing  no  consequences.  Whereupon 
Susan,  without  a  word  or  a  sign  of  thanks, 
took  her  seat  and  settled  herself  comfort- 


50       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ably,  so  that  she  might  lose  no  detail  of 
what  was  passing.  It  was  evidently  not 
exactly  what  Seaborn  had  anticipated. 
This  indifferent  curiosity  as  to  his  fate 
made  him  regret  his  chivalrous  offer,  but 
there  was  nothing  to  be  done.  To  cap  the 
climax  he  was  very  fat.  He  more  than 
fitted  his  clothes,  and  I  am  almost  sure  that 
my  thinner  neighbour  would  have  come  off 
better  in  the  fray.  But  Seaborn  was  so  fat 
that  he  offered  a  tempting  target  for  the 
ferule  which  I  almost  forgave  Mr.  L.  for 
using  with  so  much  freedom.  Seaborn 
yelled,  struggled,  and  rubbed  his  sides,  his 
back,  his  entire  body.  When  it  was  over 
he  returned  sadly  to  his  seat,  looking 
covertly  at  Susan.  She  was  smiling.  Sea- 
born's  brother  Joel  alone  pitied  him,  sob- 
bing under  his  breath.  *  Please  do  not  cry.' 
said  Seaborn  in  a  threatening  tone.  Then 
he  muttered  between  his  teeth,  'If  ever 
again  I  make  a  fool  of  myself  for  her  I  will 
consent  to  be  smashed,  then  dug  up,  and 
smashed  again.'  What  he  meant  by  smash- 
ing, I  never  knew  and  he  never  told  me,  but 
I  remained  under  the  impression  that  it  was 
something  very  disagreeable,  and  which  he 
would  avoid  at  any  price.  However  this 
may  be,  Seaborn  kept  still.  I  saw  him 
again  years  after,  and  I  could  not  but  feel 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       51 

that  this  episode  of  his  childhood  had  for- 
ever shattered  his  ideas  of  chivalry." 

Continuing  his  narrative,  the  author 
shows  us  Betsy  Ann,  a  pretty  girl  of  sixteen, 
whose  rising  charms  caused  a  fluttering  in 
the  heart  of  Bill  Williams,  the  cock  of  the 
school,  a  strapping  fellow  of  twenty.  He 
tells  us  the  story  of  this  timid  and  awkward 
love,  so  forgetful  of  self.  Betsy  Ann  was 
conscious  of  her  beauty,  which  made  itself 
felt  on  Mr.  Lorriby  himself.  Besides,  she 
did  exactly  as  she  pleased,  until,  as  the 
result  of  a  greater  prank  than  usual,  Betsy 
was  condemned  to  the  humiliation  of  receiv- 
ing a  blow  from  the  master's  ferule.  Bill 
Williams  interposed ;  he  said  that  never  in 
his  presence  should  Betsy  be  struck.  His 
build  was  that  of  one  well  able  to  protect 
her.  No  one  doubted  the  result  of  an 
encounter  between  himself  and  Mr.  Lorriby  ; 
he  would  come  out  of  it  conqueror.  Never- 
theless he  respected  authority,  and  in  order 
to  reconcile  his  love  and  his  scruples,  he 
offered  to  submit  to  Betsy  Ann's  punish- 
ment. But  Mr.  Lorriby  understood ;  he 
guessed  that  Bill  would  not  let  himself  be 
humiliated  before  Betsy  Ann,  and  satisfied 
of  good  results  from  the  affair,  he  pro- 
nounced a  pardon.  The  rest  may  easily  be 
imagined.  Betsy  was  ashamed  of  her  too 


52       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

discreet  protector.  She  might  have  loved 
him,  if,  less  thoughtful  for  himself,  he  had 
more  heroically  protected  her.  But  Bill 
understood  nothing  of  this.  Thanks  to  him 
she  escaped  from  her  escapade  unhurt,  and 
Bill  himself  had  not  suffered  the  humilia- 
tion of  corporal  punishment.  Mr.  Lorriby 
had  perceived  under  his  sangfroid  the 
well-formed  resolution  to  return  blow  for 
blow ;  but  Betsy  had  neither  seen  nor 
sought  further,  and  without  saying  a  word 
turned  her  back  on  her  defender.  It  was 
not  enough  to  be  chivalrous,  but  he  must 
be  chivalrous  in  a  particular  way. 

V. 

Such  a  hero  was  "Old  Hickory,"  as  An- 
drew Jackson  was  called  by  his  contempora- 
ries. He  was  the  most  popular  and  the  most 
daring  President  whom  the  United  States 
have  ever  had,  the  most  dangerous  man  who 
could  have  been  chosen  to  govern  the  young 
Republic  in  the  midst  of  a  threatening  con- 
dition of  affairs  ;  a  man  who  had  nothing 
in  common  with  his  predecessors,  Wash- 
ington, Adams,  Jefferson,  Madison,  Monroe, 
and  John  Quincy  Adams.  He  had  neither 
their  suavity  nor  their  savoir-faire.  He 
represented  a  different  element,  a  national 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       53 

^_type,  which  had  put  off  the  swaddling- 
clothes  of  the  past  and  was  scornful  of 
present  conventionalities  ;  which  was  bluntly 
assertive,  but  forceful,  and  far  in  advance 
of  the  times.  Although  in  years  Andrew 
Jackson  belonged  to  a  past  age,  there  was 
in  him  the  breadth  of  mind  of  the  coming 
generation.  He  was  not  a  statesman  nor  a 
skilled  or  wise  politician,  but  an  ardent, 
patriot  nevertheless.  He  stepped  from  the 
popular  ranks,  a  'favourite  with  the  masses 
who  had  raised  him  to  power  because  they 
recognised  in  him  the  instincts,  the  loves, 
and  the  hatred's  of  democracy.  The  young 
generation  who  flocked  about  him,  and  who 
shouted  for  him,  was  weary  of  the  yoke  of 
tradition,  impatient  to  see  at  the  head  a 
representative  of  national  ambitions,  and 
one  who  would  inspire  American  politics 
with  a  new  force.  It  was  another  world, 
rising  and  asserting  itself,  and  the  women 
were  neither  less  enthusiastic  over  it,  nor 
less  ready  to  demand  from  it  their  share  of 
influence.  Was  it  not  a  Betsy  Ann,  under 
the  name  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  who  reigned  in  the 
White  House,  and  inspired  in  the  impetu- 
ous President,  as  she  had  in  the  wise  Bill 
Williams,  an  affection  so  deep  as  to  cause 
him  to  confess  himself  openly  her  passion- 
ate admirer  and  devoted  servant  ? 


54       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

"  Evil  to  him  who  evil  thinks."  Platonic 
lover,  he  asked  nothing  and  expected  noth- 
ing. Hardly  did  he  touch  those  rosy  fingers 
to  his  lips.  Chivalrous  ?  He  was,  and  like 
no  one  else.  This  rough  soldier  who  in 
twenty  obscure  fights  had  risked  his  life 
against  the  Indians ;  who  because,  when  a 
child,  he  had  been  beaten  by  an  English 
officer  for  refusing  to  clean  his  boots,  had 
sworn  revenge  and  had  defeated  the  English 
at  New  Orleans,  and  had  killed  their  best 
generals,  Pakenham  and  Gibbs ;  who, 
without  waiting  for  orders,  had  taken 
Florida  ;  and  who,  when  elected  President, 
had  entered  into  the  fight  with  the  United 
States  Bank,  with  the  capitalists,  with  the 
South,  with  Congress,  and  with  the  foreign 
representatives — he  the  soldier,  ardent, 
violent,  rough,  fell  a  slave  to  a  woman, 
ready  to  defend  her  against  the  whole  world, 
and  to  risk  for  her  his  popularity  and  a 
re-election.  And  who  was  she  ?  The 
daughter  of  an  innkeeper,  the  wife  of  a 
naval  commissary,  who  had  committed  sui- 
cide in  a  fit  of  delirium  tremens.  Then  she 
had  married  Mr.  Eaton  for  her  second  hus- 
band. This  was  she  who  had  fascinated 
Old  Hickory  at  first  sight.  He  himself  was 
married,  but  Mrs.  Jackson  did  not  in  any 
way  trouble  him.  This  estimable  woman 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       55 

from  the  frontiers,  who  had  taken  up  arms 
against  the  Iroquois,  calmly  sat  and  smoked 
her  corn-cob  pipe  by  her  hearth,*  without 
bestowing  a  look  upon  her  irascible  hus- 
band. Mrs.  Eaton  presided  over  the  recep- 
tions at  the  White  House.  She  held  its 
keys,  and  admitted  only  her  friends.  Not 
a  shadow  of  scandal  was  breathed.  She  was 
like  a  heroine  of  Fielding's  novels,  irre- 
proachable, but  despotic.  Mrs.  Donelson, 
the  President's  niece,  almost  his  daughter, 
had  refused  to  recognise  Mrs.  Eaton,  and 
had  been  sent  to  Tennessee  by  Jackson. 
Mrs.  Calhoun,  wife  of  his  colleague,  the 
Vice-President  of  the  United  States,  hesi- 
tated to  bow  before  the  idol,  so  Andrew 
Jackson  broke  with  his  friend,  who  from 
this  time  gave  up  all  hope  of  succeeding 
him.  The  wife  of  the  Minister  from  Hol- 
land declined  the  honour  of  sitting  by  the 
side  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  and  the  President  de- 
manded that  the  Minister  be  recalled. 
Baron  Krudener,  Minister  from  Russia,  and 
Mr.  Yaughan,  the  English  Minister,  were 
more  complaisant.  They  gave  balls  in 
honour  of  the  reigning  Queen — "Bellona" 
the  papers  called  her — Bellona  accepted 

*M.  de  Varigny  is  in  error  here.  Mrs.  Jackson  died 
before  her  husband's  election  to  the  Presidency. — TRANS- 
LATOR. 


OF  T 

•UNIVERSITY 


56       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

them,  and  the  diplomatic  troubles  with 
Russia  and  England  disappeared.  Clever 
Van  Buren,  who  was  a  bachelor  and  an 
expert  in  flattery,  paid  court  to  Bellona, 
and  became  Secretary  of  State,  then  Vice- 
President  after  Jackson's  re-election,  and 
finally  succeeded  him  in  the  White  House, 
having  defeated  Calhoun,  who  was  less 
diplomatic.  Thus,  by  the  hand  of  a  grate- 
ful woman,  he  was  carried  to  the  highest 
rank.  Notwithstanding  her  humble  origin 
and  disputed  beauty,  it  was  not  in  her 
father's  inn,  nor  by  her  dissipated  husband, 
that  she  was  prepared  for  her  role  in  life. 
Early  in  her  first  school,  and  later  as  the 
favourite  and  courted  village  belle,  she  had 
lived  in  men's  society  ;  she  had  learned  the 
secret  of  their  weakness,  had  understood 
her  own  power  over  them,  had  used  it,  pre- 
served it,  and  never  wasted  it.  She  wished 
rather  to  rule  all  men  than  belong  to  one. 
All  that  she  had  retained  from  her  early 
education  (less  perhaps  from  her  studies 
than  from  the  contact  with  the  boys,  her 
fellow-playmates)  had  rendered  her  less 
susceptible,  had  made  her  completely  mis- 
tress of  herself,  and  therefore  capable  of 
governing  others.  Thus  brought  up,  was 
'  not  the  American  girl,  from  the  first, 
superior  to  the  English  girl,  her  contem- 


suj 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       57 

porary  ?  They  are  two  distinct  beings.  In\ 
the  one,  who  is  the  grandmother  of  our 
modern  girl,  we  note  the  same  characteris- 
tics, the  freedom  of  manner,  the  instinctive 
prudence,  the  self-possession,  the  conscious- 
ness of  her  every  advantage.  So  in  the  man 
of  that  time  we  see  both  his  respect  for 
woman,  learned  early  in  the  public  school, 
and  the  feeling  of  chivalry  which  her  physi- 
cal weakness  and  her  charms  inspired.  The 
development  of  civilisation  and  the  growth 
of  prosperity  brought  new  elements  into 
this  primitive  world  which  we  have  tried  to 
describe,  but  they  did  not  alter  the  ground- 
work, and  the  changes  which  they  effected 
left  intact  the  fundamental  characteristics  of 
the  woman  of  the  United  States. 

From  the  start,  then,  by  force  of  circum- 
stances, by  her  common  suffering  and 
trouble,  and  by  her  public  education,  she 
was  man's  companion  and  equal.  At  no 
time  has  she  been  inferior  to  him,  there  in 
America,  as  she  has  been  in  Europe. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Overmastering  Influence  of  American  Women — Their 
Rights  and  Privileges — Flirtation,  Love,  Marriage — 
Legislation  for  the  Protection  of  Women — Its  Abuse 
— American  Circes — Breach  of  Promise  Cases — Three 
Years  of  a  Young  Girl's  Life — The  American  Mar- 
ried Woman— American  Morals — Aristocracy  and 
Plutocracy — Prevalence  of  Luxury. 

I. 

ON  a  new  continent,  whose  limits  were  at 
that  time  unknown,  a  number  of  voluntary 
emigrants  fleeing,  not  from  the  laws,  but 
from  party  oppression,  discontented  rather 
than  rebellious,  exiling  themselves  without 
thought  of  a  return,  carrying  everything 
with  them — family  and  traditions — these 
were  the  circumstances  which  surrounded 
the  American  colonists.  By  force  of  circum- 
stances, by  isolation,  by  common  danger, 
even  by  the  role  which  events  mapped  out 
for  her,  and  which  we  have  already  traced, 
;Woman  proved  herself  the  equal  of  man,  and 
not  at  all  his  inferior,  as  she  was  in  Europe, 
where  she  passed  from  her  father's  home 
under  the  no  less  despotic  yoke  of  her  hus- 

58 


tsr 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.   59 

band's  authority.  Her  chains  fell  from  her 
on  the  day  when  she  reached  American 
shores  ;  her  part  in  life  expanded.  She  was 
not  only  as  useful  but  as  necessary  as  her 
husband  in  their  common  labour,  and  her 
duties  won  for  her  thejsquality  with  him 
which  she  sought.  If  the  laws  did  not  ex- 
plicitly state  this  equality,  it  was  because 
woman  did  not  demand  it.  Every  right 
clearly  defined  is  no  less  clearly  limited,  and 
woman  had  everything  to  gain  by  not  stating 
her  rights  precisely. 

As  a  child,  the  school  is  open  to  her,  and 
from  the  tenderest  years  her  weakness  and 
her  charms  bring  her  friends  and  protectors. 
As  a  young  girl,  she  is  free.  As  a  woman, 
the  divorce  laws  allow  her  to  break  oppress- 
ive bands.  Public  opinion  follows  her  and 
protects  her  at  every  period  of  her  life.  But 
she  looks  higher  ;  equality  alone  does  not 
satisfy  her.  The  circumstances  in  which 
she  is  placed  confirm  and  second  her  ambi- 
tion. Years  pass,  prosperity  increases,  civi- 
lisation broadens.  In  a  larger  and  more 
worthy  field  of  action  man's  duty  becomes 
more  absorbing  and  woman's  less  so.  She 
is  freed  from  the  narrow  duties  of  the  first 
settlers ;  she  no  longer,  like  her  grand- 
mother and  mother,  does  the  family  cooking 
and  sewing  and  the  work  of  a  servant.  She 


60       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

has  time  to  improve  her  mind  and  make  new 
acquaintances,  and  she  reigns  undisputed 
and  without  a  rival  in  the  intellectual  sphere 
which  man  is  early  compelled  to  give  up  on 
account  of  his  incessant  labour.  To  her 
natural  charms  she  adds  that  of  the  mind, 
of  the  superior  culture  and  knowledge  which 
man  cannot  long  deny  her.  Her  thinking 
and  acting  faculties  are  not  now  put  to  the 
same  use  as  are  man's.  The  cold  and  silent 
activity  of  man  expends  itself  in  every  sense 
on  a  boundless  continent,  on  a  fertile  soil, 
which  repays  his  every  effort,  but  which,  in 
taking  all  his  time,  leaves  but  little  for  his 
family  and  none  for  the  development  of  his 
mind.  He  knows  the  art  of  making  money, 
but  not  of  spending  it,  not  of  getting  from 
it  the  comfort  and  pleasure  which  it  ought 
to  give.  On  this  side  woman  is  extremely 
clever.  She  acquires  this  art  of  spending, 
and  practises  it  with  much  ingenuity.  She 
beautifies  her  home,  and  makes  it  as  well 
as  herself,  more  attractive,  and  man's 
admiration  for  her  increases.  She  becomes 
the  spending,  as  he  is  the  receiving,  agent. 
She  spurs  him  on  to  work  in  flattering  his 
heart  and  his  vanity.  She  profits  by  the 
leisure  which  labour  has  created  for  her,  and 
to  the  natural  respect  which  she  inspires,  as 
much  in  women  as  in  men,  is  added  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       61 

respect  which  a  superior  intelligence  wins 
for  her. 

Twice  queen,  her  great  power  intoxicates 
her,  and  the  worship  which  is  given  her,  the 
homage  which  surrounds  her,  justify  in  her 
own  eyes  her  caprices  and  her  whims. 
Sure  of  everyone's  respect,  certain  of  find- 
ing in  every  man,  whoever  he  may  be,  a  pro- 
tector and  defender,  of  granting  a  favour  in 
asking  one,  she  lives  at  ease  in  this  atmos- 
phere of  gallantry,  which  forced  to  be  pro- 
longed becomes  commonplace,  and  which  is 
addressed  to  her  sex  rather  than  to  her 
individual  self,  yet  whose  privileges  she 
does  not  hesitate  to  claim.  Whoever  has 
visited  New  York  has  had  many  opportuni- 
ties of  taking  part  in  an  episode  such  as 
Baron  Hiibner  relates :  * 

"I  was  sitting  in  one  of  the  cars  which 
run  along  the  principal  streets  of  the  great 
city.  A  slight  touch  of  a  fan  arrested  my 
attention,  and  I  saw  standing  proudly  erect 
before  me  a  young  lady,  who  was  measur- 
ing me  from  head  to  foot,  with  a  haughty, 
imperious,  and  even  angry  stare.  I  hast- 
ened to  rise,  and  she  took  my  seat  with- 
out deigning  to  thank  me  by  even  a  smile 
or  a  look.  I  was,  however,  obliged  to  stand 
the  rest  of  the  way,  in  an  uncomfortable 
*  Promenades  autour  du  Monde. 


62       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

position,  painfully  holding  on  to  one  of  the 
straps  which  run  the  length  of  the  car. 

"One  day  a  young  girl  had  driven  an 
infirm  old  man  from  his  seat,  in  an  espe- 
cially haughty  manner.  Just  as  she  was 
leaving  the  car  one  of  the  passengers  called 
to  her:  'Miss,  you  have  forgotten  some- 
thing.' She  returned  hastily.  'You  have 
forgotten  to  thank  this  gentleman.'  ' 

Such  things  are  not  exceptional,  but  it 
would  be  unjust  to  American  women  to 
attribute  to  all  the  faults  of  some.  This 
^assurance,  this  consciousness  less  of  their 
rights  than  of  their  privileges,  explains  their 
independence  and  the  reason  why  they  can 
undertake,  alone,  long  journeys.  They  are 
sure  of  finding  everywhere  that  universal 
deference  and  the  attentions  which  they 
reward,  it  would  seem,  by  the  sole  fact  of 
accepting  them,  and  in  exchange  for  which 
not  even  a  word  of  thanks  is  necessary. 
For  years  they  have  everywhere  been  accus- 
tomed to  a  recognition  of  this  indisputable 
sovereignty  and  universal  respect.  Every- 
where they  are  at  home,  and  they  are  con- 
scious of  the  fact.  In  New  York,  the  cos- 
mopolitan city,  the  one  city  of  the  world 
which  contains  the  most  Irishmen  next  to 
Dublin,  the  most  Germans  next  to  Berlin  and 
Vienna ;  in  Chicago  and  St.  Louis— these 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       63 

towns  of  the  West,  which  having  made  their 
fortunes,  are  now  mighty  cities — this  obvious 
stamp  of  feminine  royalty  strikes  one  with 
great  force.  In  every  place,  public  or  pri- 
vate, at  the  theatres,  in  the  hotels,  in  the 
railroad  trains  and  on  board  steamers,  in  the 
restaurants  and  in  the  shops,  in  the  streets 
and  parks,  in  the  drawing  room  and  in  her 
father's  house,  woman  is  queen.  All  roy- 
alty is  hers  from  the  start,  as  we  have 
shown.  All  royalty  is  hers  from  the  fact 
of  her  existence,  for  she  justifies  it  by  her 
double  superiority.  She  has  derived  her 
charms  from  the  living  source  of  all  physical 
beauty. 

Married  young  and  for  love,  her  parents 
have  bequeathed  to  her  the  gifts  of  youth 
and  love.  In  her  are  refined  the  character- 
istic traits  of  a  strong  and  healthy  race, 
which  now  and  then,  as  in  the  West,  are 
free  from  all  admixture.  There,  however, 
where  immigration  has  introduced,  as  in  the 
Eastern  States,  a  new  factor — it  is  one  which 
has  modified  the  original  type  but  not 
injured  its  form. 

The  Hibernian,  French,  Italian,  and  Ger- 
man blood  mingled  with  the  Anglo-Saxon 
has  softened  with  its  characteristic  vivac- 
ity or  morbidness,  grace  or  languor,  the 
outlines  which  the  American  woman  in- 


64        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

herited.  Thus  we  find  in  this  land  almost 
every  kind  of  plastic  beauty — the  voluptu- 
ous nonchalance  of  the  Creole,  the  aristo- 
cratic purity  of  the  Englishwoman,  the 
expressive  and  mobile  physiognomy  of  the 
Frenchwoman,  the  blooming  complexion 
and  slender  figure  of  the  Irish  girl.  From 
these  races  the  American  has  borrowed  what 
is  best  in  each  :  and  youth  and  love  bring 
about  elimination,  marriage  in  the  United 
States  being,  more  than  anywhere  else,  the 
result  of  an  instinctive  affinity.  For  a  long 
time  shut  up  within  the  distant  walls  of  a 
continent  but  little  visited,  and  possessing 
nothing  which  would  naturally  attract  the 
curiosity  of  the  traveller  or  the  observation 
of  the  tourist,  the  beauty  of  the  women, 
which  was  legendary  among  the  naval 
officers  and  diplomats  whose  duties  brought 
them  to  the  coast  or  to  Washington,  made 
itself  manifest  on  the  day  when  facility  of 
communication  and  the  nomadic  instinct  of 
the  race  caused  a  regular  exodus  of  rich  \ 
Americans.  Ancient  Europe  attracted  them. 
Her  monuments,  palaces,  cities,  and  mu- 
seums became  the  object  of  regular  pil- 
grimages— the  result  of  a  serious  education, 
above  all  for  the  women.  London,  Paris, 
Florence,  Munich,  Rome,  and  Dresden  saw 
American  colonies  settling  within  their 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       65 

walls.  They  became  fitful  and  changing 
kaleidoscopes,  whose  personal  characteristics 
were  constantly  renewed  and  which  grew 
and  gravitated  about  a  few  rich,  well-known, 
and  established  families.  From  this  it  came 
about  that  the  American  colony  took  posses- 
sion of  certain  quarters  in  each  of  these 
cities  that  were  especially  liked  ;  and  the 
American  woman  made  these  her  centres 
and  lived  there.  Each  centre  was  a  foreign 
city  in  the  midst  of  the  great  French,  Eng- 
lish, Italian,  or  German  one. 

There  is  an  English  proverb  which  says 
that  seven  or  eight  generations  are  needed 
to  make  a  "gentleman"  ;  three  or  four  to 
make  a  "lady."  Not  so  many  as  this  are 
necessary  for  the -American  woman.  She 
has  the  physical  beauty  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
race,  modified  by  circumstances,  as  we  have 
shown ;  leisure,  which  man  makes  for 
her  ;  intellectual  culture  ;  wealth,  quickly 
attained ;  and  the  elegance  and  refined 
tastes  natural  to  her  sex.  Europe  did  the 
rest. 

Very  proud  of  the  beauty  of  their  wives, 
their  sisters,  and  their  daughters,  the  Ameri- 
cans regard  them  as  less  of  an  honour  to 
the  race  which  bore  them  than  to  the  usages 
and  customs  of  their  country.  On  this 
point,  their  opinion  is  worth  noting.  One 


66       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  them  told  me  it  one  day,  in  one  of  those 
humourously  ironical  chats  in  which  Swift 
excelled,  and  in  which  the  coldly  scoffing 
mind  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  glories.  A  great 
traveller,  and  a  conscientious  observer, 
chance  brought  us  together  at  Madrid,  and 
afterward  at  Naples,  and  one  evening  we 
dined  with  Mr.  X.  We  met  with  pleasure  ; 
we  had  common  friends  across  the  Atlantic, 
and  nothing  further  was  necessary  for  the 
beginning  of  intimacy.  I  was  greatly 
pleased  with  his  keen  mind,  a  little  para- 
doxical at  times,  but  full  of  the  unexpected. 

At  table,  we  spoke  of  the  Latin  and  the 
Anglo-Saxon  races.  It  is  needless  to  add 
that  his  preference  was  for  the  latter. 

"The  future  is  in  its  hands,"  he  said  to 
me,  resuming,  after  dinner,  our  interrupted 
conversation.  "  It  will  end  by  populating 
the  world.  At  the  beginning  of  this  century 
the  United  States  had  only  six  million 
inhabitants.  Now  we  are  seventy  millions. 
Already  we  reach  toward  South  America. 
Oceanica  is  made  up  of  the  sons  of  our 
colonists.  Compare  with  your  French 
families  of  one  or  two  children,  these 
Western  families,  in  which  we  count  ten  or 
twelve.  From  the  point  of  view  of  the 
population  you  stand  still,  while  we  double 
in  thirty  years.  The  dot  kills  you." 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       67 

"Why,  how  so?" 

"  There's  not  a  doubt  of  it.  Is  there  any- 
thing more  absurd  than  a  system  in  which 
the  children's  future  is  assured  by  the 
parents  ?  It  is  the  opposite  of  all  truth  ;  it 
is  the  world  turned  upside  down,  in  whicli 
the  elders  deprive  themselves  for  the 
younger ;  when  those  who  no  longer  pro- 
duce sacrifice  themselves  for  those  who 
are  best  able  to  help  themselves.  Even  if 
this  sacrifice  assured  their  happiness  it 
would  be  different,  but  nine  times  out  of  ten 
you  make  them  unhappy." 

He  had  begun,  and  there  was  nothing  for 
me  to  do  but  to  listen. 

"  You  think  that  I  am  making  paradoxes 
for  amusement ;  but  it  is  not  so.  Look 
before  you  at  those  three  young  girls ;  one  is 
pretty,  the  other  two  decidedly  homely. 
The  one  on  the  right  has  a  crooked  figure, 
her  face  is  pale  and  thin,  and  her  features 
drawn  and  weary.  The  next  one,  her  sister, 
is  hardly  better  looking.  Both,  as  you 
know,  have  a  large  dot,  and  as  you  express, 
it,  great  expectations  ;  suitors  flock  about 
them.  It  is  no  less  true  that  Nature,  a  harsh 
stepmother,  if  you  wish — it  is  neither  your 
affair  nor  mine — has  condemned  them  to 
celibacy.  Their  father  married,  too  late  in 
life,  a  rich  and  poorly  built  woman.  This 


68        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

is  the  result.  Well !  these  two  young 
girls,  homely  and  of  feeble  constitution 
also,  are  sought  after  by  young  men  who 
will  not  love  them,  and  with  good  reason, 
but  who  ask  from  a  rich  marriage  the  wealth 
which  fortune  forgot  to  have  in  their  cradles 
and  which  they  do  not  see  the  necessity  of 
gaining. 

u  As  to  the  other,  she  has  everything  that 
pleases,  but  without  a  dot,  what  will  she 
find  ?  An  old  man  or  an  aged  bachelor. 
This  is  her  lot.  Will  the  two  ugly  ones  have 
children  ?  We  may  doubt  it.  In  any  case 
we  may  hope  not.  So  be  it.  But  every 
ugly  girl  alone  has  not  a  large  dot.  There 
are  pretty  ones  well  endowed.  I  admit 
this  ;  but  is  it  not  already  too  much  to  ask 
that  chances  be  made  equal  ?  x  Do  you 
not  see  that  a  father  afflicted  with  two 
daughters,  exactly  alike,  is  forced  to  double 
his  sacrifices  to  marry  them,  and  that  their 
marriage,  whatever  he  himself  may  think  of 
it,  is  no  help  to  humanity  ?  Left  to  herself, 
Nature  gets  out  of  the  trouble  to  the  advan- 
tage of  everyone.  It  is  a  law  of  nature 
that  a  young  man  who  is  strong  and  healthy 
should  love  a  young  girl  who  is  beautiful, 
strong,  and  robust.  It  is  by  the  same  law 
that  they  marry,  and,  as  in  fairy  tales,  shall 
have  many  children  like  themselves.  Of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       69 

what  use  is  it  to  buy  at  a  heavy  price  a  hus- 
band for  a  girl  who  does  not  want  children, 
and  who  will  give  to  the  world  a  puny, 
sickly  being,  whose  life  she  will  save,  if  it 
is  to  be  saved,  by  great  effort,  and  for  whose 
dot  she  will  exhaust  herself,  in  order  that  he 
in  his  turn  may  become  the  founder  of  a  fam- 
ily like  himself.  In  all  things  and  every- 
where, nature  acts  by  elimination.  Certain 
vegetable  and  animal  products  are  forced  to 
disappear,  and  imperfect  germs  are  incapa- 
ble of  more  perfect  reproduction." 

"In  other  words,  you  require  the  sup- 
pression of  ugly  women  ? " 

"Total  suppression — no  ;  but  not  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  it,  and  above  all  not  to  strive 
to  perpetuate  them  any  more  than  in  the 
case  of  sickly  and  rickety  men.  A  similar 
being  costs  as  much  arid  more  to  feed  and  to 
bring  up  than  a  sound  and  healthy  being. 
You  found  societies  to  breed  horses,  the 
fowls  of  the'  barn-yard,  the  ovine  and  bovine 
races,  but  when  a  higher  being  is  concerned, 
a  man  or  a  woman,  you  make  at  great  ex- 
pense an  absurd  system  which  is  contrary 
to  nature,  the  result  of  which  is  to  perpet- 
uate the  ugliness  and  the  degeneracy  of  the 
race.  You  deem  it  a  simple  and  natural  fact 
that  a  man  in  the  vigour  of  life  should  marry 
an  ugly  girl,  if  only  one  with  a  good  dot, 


70       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  you  call  this  a  'fine  match.'  You  find 
it  easy  and  natural  for  a  poor  but  beautiful 
girl  to  marry  an  old  man  who  has  lived  his 
life  as  you  say,  but  who  is  rich,  and  you 
congratulate  the  mother  or  friend  who  has 
brought  it  about.  It  enrages  me  to  see 
these  villainous  acts.  Nature  herself  is  en- 
raged, but  she  has  her  revenge  ;  and  in  this 
lies  the  danger.  You  shut  your  eyes  in 
order  not  to  see  it.  However,  the  statistics 
are  there,  and  they  will  enlighten  you. 
Science,  medicine,  physiology,  the  courts 
themselves,  din  the  truth  into  your  very 
ears.  You  close  them,  but  none  are  so  deaf 
as  those  who  will  not  hear.  Your  fathers 
wear  themselves  out  over  the  dot.  Your 
mothers  hunt  for  heirs  as  sons-in-law  and 
daughters-in-law.  A  few  days  ago  one  of 
them  said  to  me :  *  I  want  Ernest  to  marry, 
he  does  such  foolish  things ;  I  am  looking 
for  a  rich  wife  for  him.  Ernest  could  not 
live  without  money,  and  we  do  not  mind 
about  beauty.  Would  you  tell  us  of  some- 
one ? '  Her  Ernest  is  a  great  blockhead, 
badly  brought  up,  in  the  habit  of  frequent- 
ing all  sorts  of  bad  company,  thin,  worn-out, 
already  half  paralytic.  His  devoted  mother 
is  looking  about  and  will  find  some  creat- 
ure who  is  ugly,  yet  one  with  a  large  dot. 
They  will  marry  ;  they  will  want  to  found  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       71 

family.     May  God  keep  the  results  from 
you  ! " 

He  paused  for  breath  and  continued  : 
"  In  the  United  States  we  are  more 
logical.  If  we  copy  your  fashions,  we  do 
not  import  your  theories  of  marriage.  We 
marry  for  love,  and  everyone  is  happy.  One 
of  my  friends,  a  Chicago  millionaire,  has 
just  given  his  daughter  to  a  young  mer- 
chant who  is  starting  in  life.  On  their 
wedding  day  he  presented  them  with  two 
thousand  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  of 
a  trip  to  Europe.  They  thought  him  very 
generous.  The  son-in-law  works,  and  adores 
his  wife,  who  makes  him  happy.  I  will 
wager  that  before  six  years  have  passed  they 
will  have  six  children  and  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  With  this,  good-evening." 

He  shook  my  hand  and  left.  My  neigh- 
bour, a  lady  of  some  years,  who  understood 
English,  had  heard  him,  for  I  caught  her 
whispering,  as  he  left:  " These  Americans 
are  all  materialists." 

II. 

We  have  described  the  colonisation  of  the 
Eastern  States  from  the  beginning,  Puritan 
and  Protestant,  recruiting  itself  from  the 
middle  classes  of  the  England  of  1630, 


V2       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

hostile  to  tlie  Stuarts,  sympathising  with  the 
Commonwealth  and  with  a  republican  form 
of  government.  In  the  South,  on  the  con- 
trary, which  was  settled  by  the  partisans  of 
the  dethroned  Stuarts,  we  have  shown  the 
preservation  of  the  aristocratic  English  tra- 
ditions, the  system  of  slavery  crystallising 
into  an  institution,  the  free  and  easy  ways  of 
the  planter  gradually  taking  the  place  of 
the  stately  life  of  the  great  proprietor.  In 
West,  invaded  and  peopled  at  a  later 

y,  these  two  types  met  and  intermingled, 
Represented  by  adventurers  from  the  South 
and  East,  and  by  those  bolder  pioneers  who 
were  eager  for  free  life  and  more  room,  and 
who  fell  back  before  the  advancing  civilisa- 
tion whose  conventionality  was  irksome  to 
them.  Young  and  energetic,  they  peopled 
the  Western  solitudes  with  a  progeny 
vigorous  like  themselves,  and  as  large  as  it 
always  is  where  the  child  is  a  help,  and  not 
a  hindrance. 

Hence  arose  three  distinct  types — the  citi- 
zen of  the  East,  the  Southern  planter,  and 
the  Western  farmer.  It  is  true  that  these 
conditions  were  modified,  each  section  en- 
croaching upon  the  other.  The  West  became 
dotted  with  large  cities  ;  the  East  impinged 
upon  the  South  after  the  War  of  Secession  ; 
the  South  was  for  a  time  ruined  and  favoured 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       V3 

emigration.  But  time  had  not  as  yet 
accomplished  its  work  of  coalition  any  more 
than  it  had  effaced  each  characteristic  trait. 
The  East,  the  first  of  these  three  sections 
to  be  settled,  became  the  most  thickly  popu- 
lated, the  most  important,  its  great  busi- 
ness centre  being  New  York,  the  real  capi- 
tal of  the  Union,  the  "Empire  City,"  as  she 
calls  herself.  No  other  city  of  the  Re- 
public can  rival  her.  Her  population,  her 
luxury,  the  brilliance  of  her  receptions  and 
balls,  the  wealth  of  her  millionaires,  the 
elegance  of  the  women's  toilets,  make  her 
the  leader  of  custom  and  fashion,  the  city 
which  gives  law  to  all  the  others. 

Society  in  Boston  is  more  intellectual, 
more  serious.  Baltimore,  Charleston,  and 
Richmond  are  more  aristocratic.  Phila- 
delphia is  a  happy  medium,  more  fastidious, 
more  reserved.  There  is  more  gaiety  in 
New  Orleans,  more  of  a  "  go  as  you  please  " 
atmosphere  in  Chicago,  and  more  wit  and 
taste  at  Washington,  where  Congress  holds 
its  winter  session  and  draws  together  the 
cosmopolitan  world  of  the  legations,  of  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives ;  but 
in  none  of  these  cities  does  the  social  life 
reach  the  same  degree  of  intensity  that  it 
does  in  New  York,  the  paradise  of  the 
American  young  girl. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


74       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Here,  better  and  to  a  greater  degree  than 
anywhere  else,  she  can  give  free  play  to  her 
taste  for  spending  money,  to  her  toilet,  to 
receptions  and  balls,  to  flirtation  and  pleas- 
ure. The  social  life,  of  which  she  is  the 
soul,  is  made  for  her,  and  American  custom 
gives  her  the  entire  liberty  that  she  longs 
for.  The  extent  of  this  liberty  has  at  times 
been  exaggerated,  and  some  have  deduced 
a  general  rule  from  a  few  loud  and  noisy 
exceptions,  and  have  attributed  to  the 
young  New  York  girls  a  too  bold  manner. 
The  truth,  as  it  is,  is  enough,  and  presents 
a  sufficiently  disconcerting  contrast  to  our 
French  customs  to  need  further  accentua- 
tion. Fearless  Amazons,  the  New  York 
girls  walk  in  groups,  or  are  accompanied  by 
an  escort  to  whom  they  allow  for  the  moment 
the  honour  of  attending  them  in  the  walks 
of  Central  Park,  or  else  they  drive  there  in 
a  light  buggy  drawn  by  a  swift  trotter. 
During  the  winter  they  make  up  sleighing 
parties  or  skate  on  the  ponds.  We  meet 
them  in  the  large  shops  and  in  the  fashion- 
able restaurants  without  other  escort  than  a 
friend.  The  evenings  are  spent  at  some 
theatre  or  ball.  The  summer  they  pass  at 
Newport,  Saratoga,  Long  Branch,  or  Bar 
Harbour,  where  they  display  themselves  at 
the  Casino  in  such  gorgeous  toilets  as  might 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       75 

well  put  to  flight  any  prospective  husband. 
In  the  autumn  they  go  to  Paris,  London, 
Florence,  Rome,  Naples,  or  Lucerne.  Our 
European  hotels  are  filled  with  their  exuber- 
ant gaiety  and  extraordinary  whims.  One 
meets  them  everywhere.  They  are  indefati- 
gable travellers,  visiting  everything,  explor- 
ing everything,  and  everywhere  they  are  as 
free  as  they  are  at  home,  heedless  of  the 
wonder  they  arouse  or  the  comments  they 
excite. 

"  This  is  all  very  well,"  said  Walpole,  "but 
— how  do  they  manage  at  home?"  Nine 
times  out  of  ten  the  Americans  make  quiet 
wives  ;  as  is  seen  when  the  English  make  of 
them  countesses,  marchionesses,  or  duch- 
esses, bearing  with  dignity  the  greatest 
names  of  the  United  Kingdom.  From  the 
fact  that  the  American  manner  is  directly 
opposed  to  our  French  ideas,  and  would 
expose  our  women  to  certain  interpretations 
which,  everything  considered,  would  be  less 
to  our  honour  than  to  theirs  ;  from  the  fact 
that  the  Americans  turn  aside  from  the  con- 
ventional path  which  our  young  girls  follow, 
a  path  in  which  our  implacable  logic  mingles, 
whether  one  will  or  no,  a  whole  category  of 
human  beings  whatever  their  hopes,  their 
natural  taste  and  instincts — notwithstand- 
ing all  this,  it  does  not  necessarily  follow 


76        THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

that  the  Americans  are  absolutely  in  the 
wrong,  or  that  we  are  absolutely  in  the  right. 
The  results  of  the  American  system  are  the 
true  criterion,  and  in  judging  it  by  the 
results*  we  cannot  affirm  that  the  great 
liberty  given  American  girls,  at  the  present 
time,  has  had  any  more  deplorable  results 
than  has  the  European  system. 

The  Italians  say:  "Our  parents  married 
us  as  they  wished ;  it  rests  with  us  now  to 
act  as  we  please."  The  American  marries 
as  she  wishes  ;  free  in  her  choice,  she  is  in 
most  cases  true  to  it,  and  great  are  the  joy 
and  honour  of  her  home.  But  that  which 
above  all  shocks  our  conventional  notions  is 
the  fact  that  she  is  "her  own  mother,"  that 
is  to  say,  she  assumes  to  take  care  of  herself, 
to  watch  over  herself,  and  to  act  with  dis- 
cretion. By  her  early  contact  with  com- 
panions of  her  own  age  her  imagination  is 
curbed  ;  there  are  no  flights  into  a  mysteri- 
ous world.  Hers  are  living  types,  and  not 
impossible  heroes.  The  deceitful  mirages 
are  replaced  by  a  prosaic  reality.  Good 
sense  takes  the  place  of  poetic  illusions, 
and  prudence  of  vague  dreams  and  mystic 
flights.  The  art  viflirtation,  which  is  to  love 
what  the  preface  of  a  book  is  to  the  book 
itself,  which  is  as  the  love  of  fencing  is  to 
the  duel,  accomplishes  for  her  what  her 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       11 

public  education  began.  She  uses  this  art 
with  the  skill  of  her  sex,  with  the  confi- 
dence which  the  respect  that  she  inspires 
gives  her,  with  the  wisdom  of  a  precocious 
experience,  and  with  the  conviction  that  the 
happiness  of  her  life  depends  on  the  use  she 
makes  of  it  and  on  her  final  choice.  This 
choice  is  dictated  by  no  one.  She  takes 
upon  herself  all  the  responsibility,  having 
been  prepared  for  it  from  girlhood.  Accus- 
tomed to  the  flattery  of  men,  their  compli- 
ments do  not  turn  her  head.  She  takes  a 
practical  view  of  life  ;  she  knows  what  she 
may  expect  from  it  and  what  she  wants. 
In  these  unruly  and  what  are  called  empty 
brains  there  is  more  diplomacy  than  one 
suspects ;  a  calmer  heart  and  a  cooler  tem- 
perament than  appearances  might  lead  one 
to  suppose.  Moreover,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  distinguishing  characteristics  of  the 
Americans  are  seldom  those  which  charm 
and  attract  us  at  first  sight.  Cold  by  tem- 
perament, reserved  by  instinct,  indefatiga- 
ble workers,  ambitious  for  money  and  power, 
from  an  early  age  all  their  energy  is  concen- 
trated on  one  idea  alone — how  to  succeed. 
Their  ambition  is  as  limitless  as  the  field  in 
which  they  move.  Not  one  of  them,  how- 
ever humble  she  may  be,  but  aspires  to 
the  highest  rank  and  the  greatest  wealth. 


78       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Planter  or  woodcutter,  workman  or  farmer, 
the  American  man  may  yet  become  a  Rep- 
resentative, a  Senator,  an  Ambassador,  a 
Minister  of  State,  or  even  the  President  of 
the  Republic. 

In  the  liberal  professions  nothing  bars 
the  way,  or  demands  a  long  or  expensive 
delay.  There  exist  no  indispensable  con- 
ditions to  advancement,  no  social  categories 
in  which  one  is  inclosed  and  confined,  and 
which  paralyse  his  efforts  and  retard  his 
progress.  Equality  of  education  gives  his 
competitors  no  advantage  over  him,  except 
such  as  may  exist  in  the  individual  and 
intellectual  ability  of  each.  Superiority 
belongs  less  to  knowledge  than  to  energy 
and  will.  Each  man  knows  this,  and  he 
puts  all  his  powers  to  work,  avoiding  by 
instinct  everything  that  hinders  his  prog- 
ress, caring  little  for  form  and  appearance, 
and  much  for  the  realities.  He  is  re- 
proached for  his  lack  of  suavity,  for  habits 
that  are  often  rough,  and  for  his  scorn  of 
conventionalities  and  rank.  Of  course  there 
are  many  brilliant  exceptions  to  this  fact, 
but  in  the  main  the  criticism  is  well 
founded. 

The  greater  number  of  men  have  the  time 
neither  to  acquire  polish  nor  to  seek  the 
society  of  women.  They  have  other  things 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       79 

to  attend  to.  Then  the  absence  of  the  dot 
has  at  least  an  advantage  which  ('they  do  not 
see  in  the  rich  marriage,  a  short'  cut  toward 
wealth.  Rich  or  poor  as  they  are  or  are  in 
the  way  of  becoming,  they  are  seldom  idle. 
Bat  leisure  is  necessary  for  the  cultivation 
of  woman's  society.  Of  all  occupations 
nothing  is  more  absorbing  than  this,  nothing 
takes  more  time  and  care.  Then,  again,  in 
the  United  States  the  drawing  rooms  are 
not,  as  they  are  in  Europe,  one  of  the  great 
roads  to  success,  most  frequented  by  the 
ambitious  in  quest  of  help,  of  recommenda- 
tion, of  influence.  They  are  not  a  centre 
where  intrigues  are  concocted  and  where  one 
discusses  affairs  and  makes  bargains.  Even 
in  Washington  the  lobbyists  who  haunt  the 
Capitol  and  the  White  House  rarely  have 
access  to  receptions,  even  to  the  political 
ones ;  and  there  would  be  difficulty  in  point- 
ing out  any  statesman,  financier,  lawyer,  or 
millionaire  whatever  at  these  receptions  who 
had  made  his  way  in  the  world  by  society's 
favouritism. 

Man's  natural  coldness  and  reserve,  his 
many  occupations  and  the  energy  which  he 
gives  to  them,  the  respect  which  he  has  for  the 
young  girl,  her  experience  of  the  realities  of 
life,  her  imagination,  curbed  at  an  early  age 
— all  these  are  causes  which  make  flirtation 


80       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

less  dangerous  for  the  woman  in  the  United 
States  than  anywhere  else.  If  the  daughters 
of  Eve  did  not  invent  flirting  itself,  at  least 
they  coined  the  word,  and  raised  the  art  to 
such  perfection  that  it  has  reached  the  dig- 
nity of  an  institution.  The  art  was  neces- 
sary, to  take  the  place  of  a  system  which 
existed  in  Europe,  though  never  in  America 
— the  restless  anxiety  of  parents  and  friends, 
their  matchmaking,  their  discreet  arrange- 
ments ;  in  fact,  all  the  strategy  necessary  to 
bring  together  a  man  and  a  woman  and  plan 
and  arrange  their  marriage  for  them. 

American  independence  could  not  submit 
to  this.  The  absence  of  the  dot  removed  the 
chief  element  in  the  affair,  and  left  only  a 
question  of  personal  taste.  Moreover,  the 
hearts  of  the  lovers  alone  being  at  stake,  in- 
tercessors became  useless,  and  the  simplest 
thing  was  to  leave  the  young  people  to  their 
own  devices.  And  this  was  what  was  done  ; 
so  it  fell  to  the  young  girl  to  form  her  own 
court  about  her,  to  make  her  own  choice,  to 
do  what  seemed  best  for  her,  and  to  admit 
to  the  number  of  her  suitors  only  those  who 
seemed  to  her  to  combine  the  traits  which 
she  desired  in  a  husband.  It  was  for  her  to 
assure  herself  by  the  necessary  inquiries  of 
the  harmony  of  their  tastes  and  ideas  ;  to  dis- 
tinguish between  mere  flattery  (the  same  in 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       81 

everyone)  and  the  depth  and  sincerity  of  the 
feeling  she  inspired,  the  intellectual  and 
moral  worth  of  the  man  whose  name  she  was 
to  take. 

Flirting  takes  care  of  and  allows  all  this. 
Under  a  melancholy  or  playful  manner 
vows  and  confidences  are  exchanged ;  serious 
and  tender  conversations  take  place  which 
show  the  character  and  wishes  and  hopes  of 
each.  Skilful  tactician,  the  young  girl  ex- 
cels in  calming  her  impatience,  in  encourag- 
ing attention  without  binding  herself,  and 
in  discouraging  it  without  breaking  off  the 
friendship.  Is  she  worldly  ?  It  is  necessary 
for  her  to  know  whether  he  loves  the  world, 
or  whether  he  will  love  it ;  whether  he  will 
take  her  into  it ;  whether  she  can  "  enter- 
tain" and  spend  her  summers  at  Saratoga, 
or  at  the  seashore.  Between  two  sentimen- 
tal phrases,  embellished  with  a  quotation 
from  Tennyson  or  Longfellow,  she  slips  in 
a  question  as  to  the  actual  position  of  the 
young  man,  his  business  chances,  his  ambi- 
tions ;  she  asks  it  like  a  sister,  or  like  a 
friend  who  is  interested  in  him  and  in  his 
future.  After  some  meetings  she  knows  all 
that  she  need  know,  and  as  means  of  com- 
parison are  not  wanting  to  her,  she  realises 
whether  or  not  she  should  encourage  him. 
Simple  in  her  tastes,  does  she  hope  for  a 


82       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

calmer  happiness  ?  Does  she  hold  her  ideal 
to  consist  in  the  perfect  intimacy  of  heart  and 
mind  ?  Will  he  like  those  whom  she  likes, 
and  content  himself  with  a  quiet  life  ?  Or, 
again,  has  she  ambition  to  play  a  political 
role,  to  shine  at  Washington  ?  Are  there 
in  him  the  elements  of  a  statesman,  or  at 
least  of  a  politician  ?  Will  he  know  how  to 
steer  his  bark  over  the  stormy  sea  of  poli- 
tics ?  Imbued  with  old  traditions,  will  her 
pride  marry  her  into  one  of  those  historic 
families  whose  ancient  origin  is  even  more 
prized  in  the  United  States  than  in  Europe  ? 
She  may  be  trusted  to  make  her  choice  with 
all  the  care,  the  prudence,  and  the  wise 
deliberation  that  are  necessary. 

It  is  not  for  her  to  accommodate  herself 
to  the  situation  in  which  she  is  placed  by 
circumstances,  or  to  limit  her  tastes  or  bend 
her  wishes  to  it.  Neither  h£r  mode  of  life 
nor  her  education  has  prepared  her  for  this. 
She  is  not  like  those  German  princesses 
whom  a  wisely  colourless  education  makes 
Catholics  or  Protestants,  orthodox  or  heter- 
odox, English  or  Russian,  Italian  or  Greek, 
according  to  the  husband  given  to  them 
by  the  political  intrigues  of  the  moment. 
Her  ideas  and  tastes  are  formed ;  and  the 
problem  to  be  solved  is  the  choice  of  a  hus- 
band who,  by  sharing  these  tastes  and  ideas 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       83 

with  her,  will  best  realise  them.  She  spends 
her  winter  entertaining,  her  summer  at  New- 
port, Saratoga,  Long  Branch,  without  cessa- 
tion or  intermission,  following  up  her  ambi- 
tions with  as  much  persistence  as  her  hus- 
band uses  to  win  success.  By  different 
means,  the  only  ones  within  her  reach,  does 
she  not  aim  at  the  same  results  ?  With  this 
difference,  however  :  that  if  the  man  makes  a 
mistake,  he  can  start  again.  If  one  business 
does  not  fulfil  his  expectations,  there  are 
open  to  him  banking,  politics,  farming,  and 
manufacturing  with  many  years  before  him. 
But  with  her  the  case  is  different :  one  mis- 
take affects  her  whole  life,  and  her  time  is 
carefully  measured  out.  With  what  mar- 
vellous art,  with  what  consummate  skill,  she 
manoeuvres  on  difficult  ground,  and  guides 
her  adorers  with  a  careless  and  smiling 
manner,  carrying  on  a  bantering  conversa- 
tion in  which  she  excels,  and  seizing  in  the 
effusion  of  a  carefully  arranged  tete-a-tete 
some  characteristic  or  other  significant 
detail  which  enlightens  her.  Under  this 
frivolous  exterior  which  strikes  the  eye 
alone,  she  is  playing  an  important  part. 
Great  presence  of  mind  and  coolness  are 
necessary  to  her.  Her  heart  may  be  caught, 
and  foresight  may  be  found  of  no  avail.  As 
natural  weapons  she  has  her  woman's  in- 


84       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

stinct,  her  intellectual  superiority,  a  pre- 
cocious knowledge  of  men,  who  cannot  easily 
dissimulate,  whom  jealousy  pricks,  whom 
vanity  blinds,  and  who  when  drawn  on  by 
passion  are  disconcerted  by  woman's  shrewd 
retreats  and  skilful  advances.  In  this 
perilous  game  does  not  woman  risk  com- 
promising or  losing  her  dignity,  or  at  least 
forgetting  something  which  in  our  eyes 
is  the  greatest  charm  of  a  young  girl, 
namely,  the  candour,  modesty,  and  inno- 
cence which  we  prize  so  much,  and  willingly 
attribute  to  her  ?  This  may  be  so ;  but 
given  the  necessity  for  her  to  make  her 
choice  and  the  great  risk  which  she  runs 
of  being  deceived,  is  it  not  permissible,  all 
things  considered,  that  she  make  good  use 
of  her  advantages  and  of  the  weapons  which 
nature  has  given  her?  The  privilege  of 
flirting  is  as  sacred  and  as  irrevocable  in  the 
United  States  as  the  immortal  principles  of 
1789  are  with  us  French.  So  if  it  be  not 
actually  an  article  of  the  American  Consti- 
tution, it  is,  nevertheless,  thought  to  be  a 
part  of  the  general  Declaration  of  Eights, 
and,  according  to  woman,  that  which  author- 
ises every  citizen  of  the  great  Republic  to  do 
his  best  in  the  pursuit  of  happiness.  Flirt- 
ing being  one  of  the  means  of  attaining  the 
latter,  the  temporary  intimacy  which  it 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       85 

gives  to  young  men  and  women  is  accepted 
and  respected.  They  can  at  their  ease  play 
the  preliminary  comedy  of  love,  a  sort  of 
rehearsal  before  the  representation  itself— 
the  prelude  under  a  sentimental  or  jesting 
guise  to  the  fitful  fascinations  which  increase 
or  vanish  according  as  the  accord  or  discord 
of  the  characters  reveals  itself  in  this  half 
intimacy,  which  seeks  a  corner  away  from 
the  crowded  drawing-room  or  in  summer 
time  the  beach. 

Ingenious  persons  at  Newport,  Atlantic 
City,  Bar  Harbor,  and  Long  Branch  have 
made  a  profitable  speculation  from  this 
national  custom.  They  rent  out  to  the 
young  couple  in  search  of  a  tete-a-tete  a 
huge  parasol,  whose  iron  tip  is  buried  in  the 
sand.  This  parasol  is  a  kindly  shelter  from 
the  rays  of  the  sun,  as  well  as  a  protection 
against  all  passers-by.  Ordinarily  from 
under  this  vast  mushroom  only  two  little 
feet  are  visible,  neatly  clad,  and  two  larger 
ones  ;  sometimes,  too,  but  rarely,  is  seen 
a  slender  waist  encircled  by  a  manly  arm. 
Encouraged  by  his  success,  the  Atlantic 
City  speculator  has  had  a  long  strip  of  sand 
levelled  off  on  the  bluff  over  the  shore,  and 
here  the  lovers  may  see,  without  being  seen, 
the  panorama  of  the  sea  unfolding  itself  at 
their  feet.  Those  who  are  especially  given 


86       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  flirting  may  spend  here  their  long  after- 
noons. No  one  is  astonished  or  offended. 
Flirting  is  not  the  exclusive  right  of  the 
rich — far  from  it.  From  the  highest  to  the 
lowest  round  of  the  social  ladder  it  is  the 
indispensable  prelude  to  marriage,  and  the 
girl  who  married  without  it  would  consider 
herself  deprived  of  her  rights.  Does  this 
mean  that  the  thing  is  not  abused,  and  that 
the  temporary  intimacy  between  young 
people,  the  most  dangerous  of  all  experi- 
ments, when  they  may  indulge  in  coquetry, 
and  tender  avowals,  and  passionate  declara- 
tions, does  not  at  times  end  in  disastrous 
consequences?  The  abuse  does  exist,  but 
its  consequences  are  rare,  inasmuch  as 
American  laws  and  customs  do  not  trifle  in 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  seduction. 

In  the  United  States  no  one  has  any 
sympathy  for  Don  Juans.  Any  thought  of 
wrong  loses  its  charm  where  the  fathers  and 
brothers  of  the  young  girl  stand  ready 
armed,  and  where  the  courts  are  ever  ready 
to  impose  a  crushing  penalty.  One  hesitates 
to  venture  upon  a  ground  that  is  strewn 
with  traps.  The  greatest  danger  is  not  for 
the  girl,  but  for  the  man.  His  instinctive 
respect  for  women,  and  the  natural  deference 
paid  to  her  weakness  and  attractions,  protect 
her,  and  shelter  her  even  from  the  flights  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THB  UNITED  STATES.       87 

her  imagination  and  vanity.  She  knows 
this  fact  and  often  takes  advantage  of  it. 
Her  wild  coquetry  sometimes  mocks  at  the 
sentiments  she  inspires,  the  affection  which 
she  incites,  and  the  vows  she  whispers. 
She  breaks  them  when  they  weary  her — 
binds  or  unbinds  them  according  to  her 
fancy  or  ambition  without  a  thought  of  any 
harm  she  may  be  causing.  Moralists  sigh 
over  this,  but  neither  the  wisest  counsels  nor 
the  entreaties  of  her  father  affect  her.  The 
necessity  itself  is  there,  and  urges  her  for 
her  own  good  to  use  the  privileges  of  her 
sex  with  the  greatest  discretion. 

"What  are  the  limits  of  flirtation?" 
queries  one  of  the  most  esteemed  organs  of 
public  opinion ;  and  the  perplexed  editor 
answers:  "  We  well  know  where  it  begins, 
but  no  one  can  say  where  it  ends.  Young 
girls  go  too  far.  Their  clever  coquetry,  if 
they  are  to  be  believed,  is  only  the  innocent 
manifestation  of  an  ingenuous  nature.  Is  it 
being  a  coquette,  they  ask,  if  we  laugh  and 
are  merry,  if  we  are  dreamy  and  tender,  and 
if  bubbling  vivacity  or  poetic  melancholy  is 
seen  in  our  faces  and  makes  us  beautiful  ? 
Ought  we  to  call  this  a  crime  ?  It  is  an 
ingenious  argument,  a  plausible  explana- 
tion, but,  nevertheless,  their  sentiments  are 
affected,  and  their  gaiety  unnatural.  Here 


88       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

is  a  charming  young  girl,  of  good  education 
and  family.  She  has  everything  to  make 
her  attractive,  and  suitors  flock  about  her. 
In  the  number  one  worthy  of  her  may  be 
found,  but  is  it  for  the  purpose  of  discover- 
ing him  that  she  puts  forth  her  efforts  ? 
No,  she  is  a  disputed  prize :  her  nervous 
laughter,  her  feverish  gaiety,  or  her  proud 
melancholy  attract  and  fascinate  a  crowd  of 
adorers,  whom  their  less  fortunate  rivals 
envy.  Not  one  of  her  gestures,  not  a  word, 
but  is  calculated  to  produce  an  effect. 
Busied  in  winning  approbation,  in  satisfying 
her  insatiable  vanity,  in  increasing  her 
prestige,  in  hearing  her  name  noised  abroad 
and  quoted  in  the  papers,  she  puts  aside  the 
highest  hope  of  woman,  that  of  loving  and 
being  loved."* 

An  indulgent  critic,  the  press  is  an  accom- 
plice in  the  custom  which  it  condemns,  for 
the  indiscreet  newspaper  man  is  eager  to 
praise  the  charms,  to  describe  the  toilets, 
and  to  give  the  names  of  the  belles  in  the 
South,  North,  East,  and  West.  In  a  single 
article  we  once  read  a  list  of  young  girls 
whose  beauty  was  noted  on  the  banks  of  the 
Potomac, — young  girls  of  the  best  and  most 
aristocratic  society, — and  in  the  list,  which 
the  author  promised  at  a  later  date  to  com- 

*New  York  Herald,  January,  1889. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       89 

plete,  were  no  less  than  103  well-known 
names,  each  with  explanatory  remarks  ! 

"Nellie  Hazeltine  of  St.  Louis,"  says  the 
writer,  "has  just  died  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
four,  and  such  was  her  reputation  for  beauty 
that  each  morning  telegraphic  bulletins  gave 
an  account  of  her  condition,  throughout  all 
the  cities  of  the  Union,  from  the  Atlantic  to 
the  Pacific.  She  was  called  the  belle  of  New 
York,  Newport,  and  Missouri.  She  was  not 
more  celebrated  for  her  personal  atractions 
than  for  her  exquisite  taste  in  dress." 

Is  it  from  a  Persian  poet  or  an  American 
newspaper  that  we  have  the  following  por- 
trait of  Miss  Mary  Brown  of  Tennessee  ? — 
"  Her  pure  features  and  perfect  form  would 
make  a  sculptor  rejoice,  and  fill  a  painter's 
soul  with  enthusiasm.  Her  complexion 
reminds  one  of  fleeting  clouds  and  of  the 
mother-of-pearl  whiteness  of  the  apple- 
blossom.  In  her  eyes  is  reflected  the  blue 
of  a  summer  sky,  and  the  sun  itself  seems 
to  have  dropped  one  of  its  golden  rays  over 
her  exquisite  locks." 

"  Miss  Mary  Handle,"  another  says,  "is 
the  belle  of  New  York,  Baltimore,  and 
Philadelphia.  Her  features  are  ravishing  ; 
her  figure  combines  all  the  attractions  which 
the  inspired  poets  of  the  East  gave  to  the 
houris  and  their  enchanted  paradise." 


90       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Surely  in  such  paragraphs,  drawn  from 
some  thousands,  there  is  enough  to  turn  a 
young  girl's  head,  and  to  make  her  forgive 
a  newspaper  man  for  his  criticisms  and 
opinions,  which  are  dictated  by  a  kindly 
interest,  and  for  which,  moreover,  there  is 
no  help.  Public  opinion  excuses  him,  even 
if  his  friends  condemn  him. 

She  is  a  coquette,  a  flirt,  unstable  and 
fickle,  capricious,  and  formidable ;  she 
abuses  her  rights  and  privileges,  but  the 
rights  and  privileges,  nevertheless,  are  hers. 
If  man  imitates  her,  if  he  pretends,  as  she 
does,  to  make  light  of  his  engagements,  to 
break  ties  made  without  thought,  and,  even 
though  engaged,  refuses  to  marry,  public 
opinion  brands  him,  the  law  condemns  him. 
The  woman  can  claim  damages,  which  the 
court  grants  and  which  are  rated  not  accord- 
ing to  the  extent  of  the  harm  done,  which 
often  is  nothing,  but  according  to  the  man's 
means. 

As  civilisation  extends  throughout  the 
United  States  the  customs  change.  Thirty 
years  ago  these  private  tragedies  used  to 
have  a  bloody  ending.  The  "  Arkansas 
toothpick,"  as  the  bowie  knife  was  called, 
and  the  revolver,  from  an  early  date  have 
brought  the  reluctant  suitor  to  repentance, 
and  avenged  an  injury  done  to  the  family 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       91 

of  a  disconsolate  Ariadne.  To-day  different 
measures  are  employed.  Breach  of  promise 
cases,  lawsuits  for  an  unfulfilled  engage- 
ment, have  fortunately  taken  the  place  of  the 
earlier  methods,  but  in  changing  the  system 
woman  loses  nothing.  The  fear  of  exor- 
bitant fines  has  more  influence  with  some 
men  than  has  a  well-equipped  arsenal,  and 
a  large  amount  of  damages  is  a  better  con- 
solation to  some  women's  vanity  than  an 
unproductive  hecatomb. 

III. 

Some  of  these  breach  of  promise  suits  in 
the  United  States  are  famous,  and,  far  from 
diminishing,  the  number  increases  every 
year.  Speculation  is  mixed  up  with  them, 
as  is  everywhere  the  case  where  money  is 
concerned.  Lawyers  are  educated  in  this 
speciality,  and  their  practice,  nursed  by 
keen  business  men  who  are  always  on  the 
watch  for  cases  of  this  kind,  brings  them 
in  great  sums.  A  new  style  of  eloquence 
has  made  its  appearance  in  the  court  room, 
and  as  the  verdict  is  based  upon  the  sympa- 
thies of  the  jury,  the  plea  is  of  an  entirely 
different  kind  from  that  for  which  we  should 
look  in  a  matter  discussed  by  every  clap- 
trap orator.  Comedy  and  pathos  unite  in  it. 


OF 


92       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Charles  Dickens  in  his  Pickwick  Papers 
has  left  an  immortal  parody  of  this  kind  of 
proceeding  in  England.  The  following  case, 
which  occurred  in  the  United  States,  and 
which  may  be  compared  with  Dickens'  mas- 
terpiece,  contrasts  the  English  humour  with 
the  practical  American  wit.  Let  us  come 
into  the  court  where  the  suit  is  going  on. 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  jury  :  The  testimony 
which  I  have  produced  is  before  you.  Its 
evidence  is  so  clear  and  so  precise  as  to  leave 
no  doubt  in  the  minds  of  men  conversant  as 
you  are  yourselves  with  masculine  deceit. 
My  client  has  opened  her  heart  to  you. 
You  have  read  its  doubts,  its  modest  hesi- 
tations. In  the  touching  recital,  which  I 
have  no  wish  to  repeat  for  fear  of  weakening 
its  effect,  she  confided  to  you — to  you  who 
are  sons,  brothers,  fathers,  and  husbands — 
with  what  infernal  art,  with  what  dastardly 
promises  of  intoxicating  joys,  of  new  toilets 
and  home  comforts,  the  defendant,  here 
present,  snatched  from  her  the  tender  avowal 
for  which  he  sighed — this  avowal  which 
cost  the  modesty  of  her  sex  so  much,  this 
avowal  which — here,  you  know  as  much  as 
I,  and  propriety  closes  my  lips.  Master  of 
her  secret  as  he  is  of  her  heart,  he  culls  from 
those  maiden  lips  the  kisses  whose  sweet- 
ness her  mother  alone  till  now  had  tasted — 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       93 

these  kisses — you  know  the  rest.  With 
what  satanic  eagerness  he  returns  even  that 
very  night,  the  next  day,  the  following 
days  !  Betrothed,  he  rejoices  in  the  deli- 
cious privilege  of  holding  her  slender,  yield- 
ing form  within  his  arms.  Her  head  upon 
his  shoulder,  her  heart  beating  against  his, 
she  tells  him  of  her  innocent  girlhood,  of 
her  heart's  dreams — in  fact,  all  that  follows 
in  such  a  case.  And  he  ?  Yes,  he  listens, 
he  holds  her  close  to  him  with  sweet  words, 
with  promises  and  vows,  until  the  day  when 
some  business— I  do  not  know  exactly 
what — calls  him,  he  says,  to  St.  Louis.  He 
leaves  her,  vowing  that  he  will  return,  that 
he  will  write  often — and  he  never  writes. 
She  becomes  restless,  she  writes  him  letter 
after  letter,  and  in  return  for  her  tender 
notes  he  maintains  a  scornful  silence. 
When  he  breaks  it,  it  is  to  announce  that 
their  marriage  is  impossible,  and  he  brutally 
offers  her — at  this  point,  gentlemen  of  the 
jury,  I  can  scarcely  contain  my  indigna- 
tion— he  offers  her — I  believe  I  see  a  figure 
trembling  on  your  lips,  that  which  your 
just  verdict  will  give  to  my  client — he  offers 
her  one  thousand  dollars  damages  !  " 

"In  cash,"  interrupted  the  lawyer  of  the 
defendant. 

"  Yes,  in  cash, — I  understand  that  well 


94       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

enough, — but  it  is  only  a  thousand  dol- 
lars— and  what  shall  we  get  after  our  lawyer 
is  paid?" 

Then,  with  a  movement  of  rising  indigna- 
tion :  "A  thousand  dollars  ?  No,  gentlemen 
of  the  jury,  this  cannot  be  !  A  thousand 
dollars  for  our  broken  heart,  for  our  faith  in 
man  forever  lost,  for  our  life  vowed  to 
eternal  singleness !  We  are  not  of  those 
who  promise  irrevocable  vows  a  second 
time,  who  give  to  another  the  lips  that  love 
has  kissed,  who  console  ourselves  for  a  lost 
love  by  asking  from  another  the  happiness 
which  was  once  ours.  And  for  so  many 
tears  shed,  for  such  dire  and  bitter  decep- 
tion, one  thousand  dollars  is  offered  us ! 
Say  fifteen  hundred  and  we  will  close  with 
it." 

The  accused  and  his  counsel  consult 
together.  Then  they  make  a  sign  of  assent 
and  the  suit  is  withdrawn. 

One  does  not  always  get  off  so  fortunately, 
as  a  certain  Southern  senator  discovered 
to  his  cost.  A  widow  entered  an  action 
against  him  for  refusing  to  marry  her, 
alleging  that  on  the  9th  of  November,  1885, 
the  gallant  senator  had  offered  her  marriage. 
Up  to  June,  1886,  she  said,  he  wrote  her 
frequently  and  in  the  tenderest  manner, 
reiterating  his  offer,  begging  her  to  accept 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.        95 

him  and  to  fix  a  day  for  the  wedding.  She 
suggested  several  dates  to  him,  one  after 
another,  it  appears,  but  for  some  reason  or 
other  he  passed  them  over,  always  offering 
some  excuse.  In  1886  the  loving  senator, 
notwithstanding  his  engagement,  sought  the 
hand  of  another  lady.  Refused  in  this 
quarter,  he  asked  and  obtained  that  of  a 
third,  and  was  to  marry  her  on  the  2d  of 
November,  1887. 

The  plaintiff  declared  under  oath  that 
during  the  two  previous  years  she  was 
ready  at  any  time  to  marry  him,  having  at 
several  times  mentioned  a  day  and  an  hour, 
as  her  letters  showed.  In  view  of  her  mar- 
riage, which  she  had  every  reason  to  sup- 
pose would  take  place  immediately,  she 
spent  more  than  she  ought.  She  gave 
orders  to  her  t  seamstress  and  her  dress- 
maker which  were  promptly  filled,  with  the 
result  that  she  found  herself  provided  with 
toilets  for  which  she  had  no  use.  Besides 
this  loss  of  money,  which  the  senator 
declared  himself  ready  to  make  good,  there 
was  the  mortification  which  she  felt,  the 
jests  of  which  she  was  the  object,  and  the 
loss  of  her  social  position,  the  value  of 
all  which  she  set  at  the  round  sum  of 
$50,000  (250,000  francs).  This  sum  she  had 
every  chance  of  gaining,  since  the  impru- 


96       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

dent  senator  had  committed  himself  deeply 
in  writing. 

All  these  proceedings  resemble  one 
another,  and,  as  is  natural,  letters  play  an 
important  part  in  them.  In  default  of  let- 
ters oral  evidence  is  used,  and  one  may  ask, 
in  seeing  the  proportionately  anxious  num- 
ber of  conscript  fathers  arraigned  before  the 
courts  of  justice  as  delinquent  lovers,  what 
it  is  that  brings  so  much  feminine  malice 
upon  their  venerable  heads. 

Feminine  office-seekers  are  no  less  for- 
midable, and  few  come  out  of  these  affairs  so 
fortunately  as  did  another  senator  from  the 
South  from  an  episode  which  caused  a 
great  sensation  in  Washington  in  January, 
1888.  For  several  weeks  this  senator  was 
followed  by  a  widow  whose  bold  scheming 
nothing  daunted.  In  the  lobbies  of  the 
Senate  Chamber,  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Capitol,  in  the  street,  and  even  to  his  hotel, 
she  hunted  him  without  mercy,  balking 
every  plan  of  escape.  In  vain,  in  response 
to  the  jokes  of  his  companions,  he  declared 
that  love  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  affair, 
and  that  his  persecutor  was  only  seeking  an 
office.  Everyone  predicted  that  it  would 
result  in  a  suit  for  refusal  of  marriage, 
which  could  be  settled  only  out  of  his  well- 
filled  purse.  One  morning  while  in  his 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       97 

bathing  dress,  modestly  covered  with  towel- 
ling, the  senator  was  bathing,  when  the 
sound  of  light  footsteps  attracted  his  atten- 
tion. Discreetly  peering  through  the  cur- 
tain which  hid  him  from  sight,  he  recognised 
the  widow,  who  had  eluded  the  hotel  boys, 
and  had  succeeded  in  entering  his  private 
dressing-room.  At  this  point  we  shall  quote 
from  the  indiscreet  newspaper  : 

"Good  Heavens!  madame,  what  do  you 
want?" 

"  I  want  my  office.  You  promised  it  to 
me,  and  I  will  not  leave  until  I  have  it," 
taking  a  chair,  and  sitting  down. 

uBut  I  can  do  nothing  in  this  condition — 
and  in  this  costume." 

"Ah  yes,  you  can;  let  us  talk  of  the 
affair — in  order  that  you  may  do  something 
when  you  are  elsewhere,"  she  replied  in 
a  hard  voice.  "I  will  not  stir  from 
here." 

What  was  he  to  do  ?  To  get  out  at  any 
cost  ?  It  could  not  be  thought  of.  She 
would  scream,  and  her  cries  would  arouse  the 
hotel  employes,  who  would  come  and  surprise 
him.  In  a  moment  he  might  be  compelled 
to  marry  her.  Did  he  hesitate?  She  drew 
from  her  bag  needles  and  thread,  and  set- 
tled down  to  knit  exactly  as  though  she 
were  at  home.  Then  indeed  he  began  to 


98       THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tremble.  The  position  was  not  to  be  borne. 
"I  surrender,"  lie  said  meekly  through  a 
chink  in  the  curtain.  uFor  mercy's  sake, 
let  me  finish  dressing.  Wait  for  me  in  the 
drawing-room ;  I  swear  to  join  you  there 
and  look  after  your  position." 

An  hour  later  they  went  together  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  obtained  of 
him  for  the  widow  a  position  with  a  salary 
of  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year,  beginning 
the  following  day. 

"Sam  Weller,"  said  the  shrewd  Tony 
Weller  to  his  son,  "  Sam  Weller,  beware  of 
widows?"  And  a  large  number  of  Euro- 
pean travellers  imitate  Tony  Weller,  and  ask 
those  who  come  after  them  to  beware  of 
young  American  girls,  shrewd,  sentimental, 
calculating,  and  experienced  little  fools  who 
are  the  exception,  and  not  the  rule.  In 
the  United  States,  as  elsewhere,  experience 
is  dearly  bought.  It  is  dearer  there  than 
elsewhere,  and  certain  adventures,  appar- 
ently not  without  attractions  at  the  be- 
ginning, become  very  serious.  An  Ameri- 
can millionaire  of  Chicago  in  travelling  to 
Detroit  met  a  young  and  charming  young 
girl  on  the  train.  They  were  alone.  He 
began  a  conversation,  and  his  idol  ended  in 
a  couple  of  hours  by  exacting  from  him  a 
promise  to  marry  her  or  to  pay  her  twenty 


. 

ITTNTV 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.       99 

thousand  dollars.*  He  paid  it,  but  the 
lesson  was  a  hard  one  for  him.  Hard  also 
was  that  of  the  poor  devil  recently  con- 
demned by  the  court  to  deduct  every  month 
as  long  as  he  lived  a  certain  sum  from  his 
moderate  salary  to  pay  for  a  momentary 
act  of  gallantry  at  a  public  ball.  Between 
these  two  extreme  rounds  of  the  social 
ladder,  between  the  millionaire  and  the 
workman,  there  is  room  for  a  certain 
number  of  victims  in  a  country  where  a 
judge  is  bound  by  the  plaintiff's  testi- 
mony, in  circumstances  where  a  witness  is 
rare,  and  would  be  troublesome,  and  in  cer- 
tain circles  where  no  hypocritical  reserve 
and  no  false  or  exaggerated  modesty  pre- 
vent the  woman's  making  the  most  of  her 
4 'weakness." 

This  weakness  is  exceptional,  for  Circes 
are  rarer  than  in  Europe,  and  if  their  num- 
ber is  increasing,  if  for  twenty  years  they 
have  been  assuming  alarming  proportions,  it 
is  because  in  the  United  States  a  rapid  com- 
mercial and  industrial  change  has  increased 
the  wealth  of  the  rich  and  the  poverty  of  the 
poor,  and  made  a  sort  of  intermediate  class 
which  struggles  against  a  social  grouping 
in  which  they  feel  their  position  to  be  below 

*  Eight  Months  in  America,  by  Duvergier  de  Hauranne, 
i.  p.  431. 


100     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

their  worth.  We  shall  return  to  this  point, 
but  in  the  normal  and  regular  life  which 
we  are  analysing,  in  the  classes  which 
compose  American  society,  breach  of  prom- 
ise suits  are  rare.  The  men  are  careful  and 
the  girls  are  not  adventuresses,  but  under 
their  frivolous  or  serious  exteriors  are  really 
sedate  and  sensible  people,  who  know 
what  they  wish  and  what  they  are  about, 
who  are  sometimes  a  little  intoxicated  by 
their  youth,  their  beauty,  and  their  suc- 
cess, and  who  are  perhaps  a  little  foolish, 
too,  but  have,  like  Hamlet,  "a  method 
in  their  madness."  Practicality  asserts  it- 
self and  the  touch  of  folly  or  of  eccentricity 
disappears  when  they  are  older.  Nothing 
is  more  regularly  arranged  or  better  cal- 
culated with  a  view  to  the  desired  result 
than  their  social  trilogy.  The  life  of  a 
young  society  girl  in  New  York  or  in  any 
other  large  city  of  the  East  comprises  three 
distinct  seasons,  each  representing  a  winter 
with  the  dissipations  of  a  city,  and  a  sum- 
mer with  its  so-called  country  amusements. 
First  year.— The  girl  makes  her  debut 
in  society.  She  has  heard  it  talked  of  and 
for  a  long  time  the  date  has  been  settled. 
However,  too  much  concerned  with  the 
importance  of  her  debut,  she  is  somewhat 
awkward  and  embarrassed.  In  this  new 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     101 

field  she  is  at  a  loss.  Her  mother,  fearing 
for  her  a  too  free  behaviour  and  the  suspic- 
ion of  "bad  form,"  has  carefully  left  out 
the  friends  and  companions  of  her  childhood. 
Their  gaiety  and  their  familiarity  would 
scandalise  serious  people  but  little  accus- 
tomed to  so  noisy  a  gathering.  This  is 
the  preliminary  year.  The  girl  observes, 
listens,  and  holds  her  peace.  Out  of 
courtesy  men  are  presented  to  her ;  by 
choice  they  ignore  her.  Out  of  her 
element,  isolated,  unconscious  of  her  real- 
value,  she  causes  no  sensation  as  yet.  It 
is  a  tiresome  season  for  her,  this  period  of 
initiation.  Seated  by  her  mother's  side, 
she  rarely  dances,  and  talks  still  less. 
She  is  always  ready  to  return  home  at  the 
least  sign  of  weariness  from  her  father.  In 
the  summer,  at  Newport  or  Saratoga,  she 
finds  some  of  the  dancers  and  some  of  her 
drawing-room  companions.  Coteries  are 
formed  and  girlish  friendships  are  made. 
Walks,  excursions,  drives,  are  planned. 
People  speak  to  her  and  she  answers. 
They  notice  her  and  she  sees  it.  She  feels 
that  she  is  somebody,  and  not  something. 
She  begins  the  art  of  serious  flirtation,  and 
her  youthful  experience  only  helps  to  facil- 
itate her  efforts. 
Second  year. — This  is  a  year  of  experi- 


102     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ments.  She  knows  people  and  they  know 
her.  She  makes  the  most  of  what  she 
knows  and  guesses  at  what  she  does  not 
know.  Daylight  begins  to  dawn  upon  her 
mind.  She  knows  intuitively  what  best 
suits  her  complexion  and  her  style  of 
beauty.  From  a  chrysalis  she  emerges  a 
butterfly.  She  has  made  her  friends,  and 
on  this  choice,  wisely  made,  depends  in  a 
great  measure  the  future  of  her  matri- 
monial campaign.  According  to  American 
customs,  these  young  companions  will  be 
more  useful  to  her  than  father,  mother, 
brother,  aunt,  or  cousin.  Has  she  known 
well  how  to  choose  them  ?  Their  popular- 
ity will  make  hers.  Their  kindly  remarks 
about  her  will  bring  her  into  notice.  They 
will  help  her,  as  she  will  help  them.  Like 
her,  even  before  her,  they  will  have  guessed 
what  husband  she  must  Im've.  They  plan  to 
bring  the  two  together,  making  opportuni- 
ties for  her  to  meet  him  by  invitations  skil- 
fully suggested  to  their  mothers.  At  formal 
dinners  she  finds  him  at  her  side.  It  is  a 
case  in  which  everything  can  be  repaid.  It 
is  an  exchange  of  good  deeds,  a  society  for 
mutual  assistance.  In  the  young  girls' 
conversations  with  one  another  they  are 
confidential  and  half  admit  their  prefer- 
ences. If  the  horizon  widens,  her  choice 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     103 

circumscribes  it.  She  imagines  herself  in 
love,  but  she  is  not  sure  of  it.  Among  her 
many  admirers  she  thinks  she  can  choose 
one,  but  still  she  hesitates. 

Third  year. — This  is  the  decisive  year — 
the  climax.  She  is  at  the  height  of  her 
beauty,  and  she  realises  it.  She  has  had 
experience,  and  from  it  comes  assurance. 
Her  limpid  gaze,  full  of  an  instructed 
innocence,  rests  on  those  about  her  with 
as  much  calmness  as  an  artist  who  has 
finished  his  portrait  for  the  next  exhibition. 
She  knows  exactly  what  she  wants,  the 
establishment  for  which  she  is  fitted,  the 
kind  of  life  she  desires.  She  knows  how 
to  listen  with  an  air  of  moved  astonishment 
to  a  passionate  declaration,  and  to  refuse 
with  tearful  eyes  the  wooer  who  asks  her  to 
marry  him,  but  who  does  not  offer  what  her 
ambition  seeks.  His  importunity  checked, 
she  can  enjoy  without  remorse  the  peace 
of  her  maiden  sleep.  At  length  her  choice 
is  made.  Her  careful  flirtation,  her  skil- 
fully calculated  advances  tempered  with 
modest  hesitation,  have  elicited  a  decla- 
ration from  the  man  in  whom  she  finds 
united  to  the  highest  degree  the  qualities 
which  she  desires  in  a  husband.  In  the 
spring  she  is  married  at  Trinity  Church  with 
a  brilliant  procession  of  eight  bridesmaids. 


104     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

And  the  others  ? 

What  others  ? 

Those  who,  more  womanly,  or  womanly  in 
a  different  way,  do  not  possess  the  art,  the 
savoir  faire,  of  the  society  girl.  Those,  in 
short,  whom  no  suitors  have  sought,  or  who 
believe  in  a  pure  love  match,  who  will  not 
be  attracted  by  men  whom  they  do  not 
love,  and  so  have  refused  all  offers.  These  \ 
are  the  ones  whom  an  American  writer 
described  in  a  series  of  public  sketches 
a  few  years  ago.  These  are  "  Bouncers," 
as  Mr.  Oliphant  has  named  them,  and  the 
title  clings  to  them.  The  majority  of 
foreigners  who  visit  the  United  States  see 
and  hear  only  these.  They  are  the  pop- 
ular type  of  the  young  American  girl, 
independent  and  scornful  of  public  opinion 
which  indulges  her  perversity  and  tolerates 
her  eccentricities. 

In  Central  Park  and  on  Broadway,  at  the 
seashore  and  at  the  watering  place,  at  the 
theatre  and  on  ferryboats,  they  thrust 
themselves  upon  our  notice,  their  loud 
gaiety  attracting  and  holding  the  attention 
of  all.  On  the  Continent  one  meets  them 
everywhere.  In  our  great  hotels  in  Paris 
and  Nice,  at  the  casinos  of  Florence,  in 
Kome  on  the  Pincio,  at  Naples,  in  Cairo 
and  in  Munich,  in  Dresden  and  in  Lon- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     105 

don,  everywhere  at  home,  they  are  spoiled 
children  whose  whims  astonish  and  whose 
free  manners  disconcert  the  public.  In 
their  hearts,  in  spite  of  their  odd  ways, 
they  are  very  womanly  women  and  very 
honest  ones.  Too  independent  to  be  bound 
by  hypocritical  customs  of  society  or  too  sin- 
cere to  play  a  role,  they  possess  what  their 
birth,  education,  and  position  have  given 
them.  While  waiting  for  love  and  marriage, 
they  amuse  themselves  with  the  carelessness 
of  their  age  and  the  liberty  which  custom 
allows  to  their  sex,  until  the. day  arrives 
when  they  make  their  choice  and  enter  the 
rank  of  the  matrons,  to  become  in  their  turn 
quiet  mothers. 

Farewell  to  the  noisy  drives,  the  sleighing 
parties,  to  flirting,  to  tete-d-tetes  on  the  sea- 
beach,  to  sentimental  excursions !  They 
have  had  everything  that  the  life  of  the 
young  girl  could  give,  and  in  their  new  life 
they  have  no  regrets  for  the  past,  no  remem- 
brance of  having  enjoyed  too  little.  They 
marry  for  themselves,  from  choice  and 
taste,  and  not  for  what  they  will  have. 
Moreover,  as  most  frequently  is  the  case, 
they  have  no  dot,  and  their  family  con- 
tents itself  with  providing  a  trousseau. 
Occasionally  their  father  adds  to  a  title 
deed,  according  to  his  means,  a  gift  of  some 


106     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

hundreds  or  thousands  of  dollars  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  a  wedding  trip  to  Europe. 
As  to  the  hope  of  legacies,  they  count  but 
little  on  them,  as  being  naturally  uncertain 
and  remote.  Except  for  a  few  large  for- 
tunes, securely  invested,  the  majority  of 
American  estates  are  settled  in  the  banking 
business,  in  commerce,  in  industry  or  specu- 
lation, and  are  liable  to  such  fluctuations 
that  they  increase  or  decrease  suddenly, 
and  in  calculating  the  value  of  a  future 
legacy  men  run  the  risk  of  serious  mis- 
takes. Then,  again,  the  head  of  a  family 
is  free  to  make  his  will  as  he  pleases,  and  if 
he  chooses  he  can  favour  one  of  his  children, 
or  wrong  them  all. 

Also  one  must  remember  that  in  the 
United  States,  in  the  middle  class,  the  ma- 
jority of  marriages  are  marriages  for  love, 
and  that  the  interested  motives  which  weigh 
upon  one  so  heavily  in  Europe  rarely 
have  any  consideration.  Finally,  single 
blessedness  does  not  frighten  women,  who 
find  ample  compensation  for  the  many  re- 
sponsibilities which  every  marriage  brings 
with  it  in  the  liberty  which  they  continue 
to  enjoy  by  not  marrying.  If  the  young 
European  girl  wins  the  appearance  of 
liberty  by  marrying,  the  young  American 
girl  gives  up  the  reality  which  was  hers; 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     107 

the  former  enters  for  the  first  time  into  the 
world,  the  latter  ordinarily  gives  it  up. 
Other  occupations,  other  cares,  claim  her ; 
her  life  of  pleasure  is  finished.  A  serious 
life  has  begun  for  her  with  all  its  duties  and 
responsibilities. 

IV. 

As  the  young  girl's  life  is  lived  under  the 
broad  and  glaring  light  of  day,  so  when  she 
is  married  silence  falls  upon  her  and  about 
her.  Save  in  exceptional  cases,  when  pub- 
lic attention  is  called  to  them  by  their  great 
fortunes,  their  brilliant  receptions,  their  lux- 
urious way  of  living,  their  toilets,  or  the 
high  social  position  of  their  husbands,  these 
young  girls  pass,  without  any  period  of 
transition,  from  the  publicity  of  the  draw- 
ing-room into  the  seclusion  of  married  life. 
Like  a  brilliant  meteor,  they  trace  a  shin- 
ing path  ;  darkness  comes,  and  to  the  sanc- 
tuary of  home,  where  the  final  evolution 
takes  place,  where  the  mirthful  and  rebel- 
lious coquette  is  converted  into  the  wise 
matron,  the  serious  and  sober  woman,  only 
her  parents  and  friends  are  admitted.  The 
psychological  study  of  the  American  woman 
is  as  complex  as  that  of  the  young  girl 
is  simple.  Outside  of  personal  observation 


108     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  sources  of  information  are  at  fault.  Do 
not  expect  from  Americans  half-told  confi- 
dences, fine  but  indiscreet  remarks  which 
expose  their  private  life,  and  reveal  its  dis- 
appointments or  its  joys.  They  are  silent. 
They  have  the  Anglo-Saxon  temperamental 
reserve. 

Silent  also  is  the  novel,  which  stops  at  the 
threshold  of  the  bridal  chamber  and  ends 
when,  after  many  catastrophes,  the  hero 
marries  the  heroine.  If  sometimes  it  is  con- 
tinued beyond  this  point,  if,  imitating  our 
own  novel,  it  undertakes  to  initiate  us  into 
the  complicated  married  life,  do  not  trust  it. 
It  is  a  guide  but  little  to  be  relied  upon,  as, 
under  feminine  sway,  it  is  adapted  to  paint 
woman  not  as  she  is,  but  as  she  would  be  ; 
to  preach  a  theory,  and  hot  to  write  a  true 
history.  Instinctively,  American  women 
study  how  not  to  betray  a  single  one  of  their 
personal  feelings,  and  how  to  avoid  every- 
thing that,  by  truthful  detail,  would  permit 
us  to  recognise  the  play  of  individuality  or 
the  characteristics  and  influence  of  any  one 
of  them. 

Moreover,  the  American  novel  is  seldom 
an  exact  picture  of  life,  a  real  impression, 
but  almost  always  a  work  of  the  imagina- 
tion, written  to  please,  distract,  or  convince  ; 
and  when  occasionally  it  strives  to  be  true,  its 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     109 

effort  is  concentrated  on  comparisons  and 
accessories.  The  real  feelings,  impressions, 
and  sensations  of  the  principal  character, 
who  himself  holds  the  pen,  are  hidden  under 
a  discreet  and  voluntary  silence.  Then,  too, 
memoirs  are  rare,  as  well  as  autobiographies. 
Daring  the  few  past  years,  however,  Ameri- 
can publishers  have  touched  upon  this  line 
of  work,  and  some  recent  publications  throw 
a  new  light  over  the  social,  intellectual,  and 
moral  life  of  a  generation  which  is  extinct.' 
There  are  noble  types  and  beautiful  women 
revealed  to  us  in  the  memoirs  of  James  and 
Lucretia  Mott,  in  the  biography  of  Margaret 
Fuller  Ossoli,  by  C.  D.  Warner,  and  in  the 
letters  of  Maria  Child.  These  lives,  conse-j 
crated  to  useful  work  and  worthily  spent/ 
bring  out  in  bold  relief  that  greatness  of 
heart  and  mind  which  is  the  unquestionable 
gift  and  characteristic  trait  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  women  in  the  United  States. 

Finally,  if  American  journalism  does  not 
carry  prudery  as  far  as  English  journalism 
did  a  few  years  ago  ;  if  it  does  not  keep 
absolute  silence  on  the  danger  which  certain 
vices  entail  upon  society;  if,  by  the  accounts 
given  of  divorce  cases  and  of  scandals,  it 
raises  the  vejlj}ligliiJy_a^ 
mtoIJriSteJifej  it  tells  only  what  all  the 
world  knows,  and  the  indiscretion  is  nothing 


110     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

more  than  a  revelation  of  the  exception 
which  proves  the  rule.  This  reserve  explains 
why  the  numerous  volumes  published  in  the 
United  States  abound  in  detaiiiof  the_£ojang 
American  girl,  painting  her  according  to  the 
sex,  age,  and  disposition  of  the  writer,  under 
such  varied  and  contradictory  forms,  and 
multiplying  the  number  of  facts  and  ex- 
amples, of  anecdotes  and  comments,  while 
they  are  silent  on  the  subject  of  the  married 
woman.  It  would  seem  from  our  reading  as 
if  the  latter  did  not  exist.  When  she  is 
mentioned,  it  is  as  the  hospitable  mistress 
of  the  house,  at  a  ball  or  a  dinner,  as  the 
indulgent  mother  where  the  coquetry  of  her 
daughters  is  concerned,  or  as  the  faithless 
wife  whom  scandal  brings  into  the  daylight 
of  publicity. 

There  is,  however,  something  else  to  be 
said  of  her,  and  her  life  does  not  merely 
fluctuate  between  the  commonplace  and 
quiet  role  and  these  noisy  digressions.  Her 
marriage,  the  great  event  of  her  life,  de- 
pends on  her,  and  her  alone.  If  the  man  she 
chooses  freely  is,  by  fortunate  circumstances, 
able  to  marry  her  at  once,  the  wedding  takes 
place  without  delay.  From  a  room  or  two, 
after  a  short  wedding  trip,  she  takes  posses- 
sion of  her  home,  hotel,  cottage,  or  simple 
apartment.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  as  is  fre- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     Ill 

queritly  the  case  when  personal  inclination 
alone  determines  her  choice,  the  position  of 
her  future  husband  is  not  yet  assured,  she 
binds  herself  by  an  engagement,  and  waits 
for  the  denouement  of  her  story  during  a  long 
betrothal.  It  may  be  interminable.  That 
of  one  of  my  friends,  a  naval  officer,  lasted 
seventeen  years.  Yet  there  was  not  one 
hour  in  which  either  he  or  she  repented. 
They  were  constant  in  spite  of  years  of  sepa- 
ration, during  his  long  voyages  to  Oceanica, 
Asia,  and  Europe,  in  spite  of  interrupted 
correspondence,  remonstrances  on  the  part 
of  their  parents,  and  in  spite  of  social  temp- 
tations. This  was  an  exceptional  case, 
but  engagements  of  many  years'  standing 
are  not  rare,  and  they  are  an  eloquent  proof 
in  favour  of  a  choice  made  in  earnest. 

The  absence  of  the  wife's  dot  necessitates 
on  the  man's  part  a  position  of  wealth  which 
he  does  not  always  have  at  the  age  when  he 
is  ordinarily  married.  As  often  as  a  lawyer, 
physician,  or  merchant  starts  out  in  busi- 
ness he  is  obliged  to  calculate  his  expenses, 
to  balance  his  accounts  carefully.  In  New 
York  and  other  large  cities  of  the  Union 
actual  living  is  expensive,  and  if  one  makes 
much,  one  also  spends  much.  Rent  is  dear ; 
good  servants  cannot  be  found  for  moderate 
wages ;  starting  out  in  business  is  costly. 


112     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

One  attains  often  to  the  most  practical  com- 
bination, to  that  which  allows  the  young 
couple  to  calculate  their  expenses  exactly, 
to  depend  on  their  income  and  avoid  all 
debt.  They  take  rooms  at  a  hotel.  There 
are  all  kinds  of  these  for  all  purses,  and 
all  run  with  this  purpose,  in  view  of  a 
special  patronage.  They  find  according  to 
the  price  they  can  pay  an  apartment  more  or 
less  complete,  with  a  drawing  room,  sleep- 
ing-room, bath-  and  toilet-rooms,  and  with 
board  and  service  at  a  stated  sum,  by  the 
day  or  month. 

For  anyone  who  knows  what  American 
hotels  are,  with  their  sumptuous  decora- 
tions, their  rich  reception-rooms,  smoking- 
rooms,  reading-rooms,  ladies'  parlours,  spa- 
cious halls,  vast  staircases,  soft  carpets, 
immense  corridors  brilliantly  lighted,  their 
dining-rooms  and  the  elegance  of  their 
table  linen  and  crystal,  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  for  a  moderately  small  sum 
one  can  have  the  results  of  an  unlim- 
ited income  and  the  comfort  of  a  million- 
aire without  being  one — the  elegance  and 
refinement  which  wealth  alone  gives.  It  is 
not  strange  that  vulgar  surroundings  are 
distasteful  to  us,  that  they  disconcert  our 
ideas  of  private  life  and  of  real  happiness  ; 
but  it  is  necessary  to  take  into  account  other 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     113 

things  and  unquestionable  compensations. 
We  can  scarcely  imagine  a  young  woman  in 
such  a  place,  but  in  such  a  place  she  is  and 
she  is  queen  in  it.  She  is  surrounded  with 
attention  and  kindness.  Some  are  removed 
far  from  home,  but  custom  has  made  this 
familiar.  On  a  steamer  which  plies  on  one 
of  the  large  rivers  in  the  United  States  I  met 
one  day  a  couple  who  had  been  married 
that  very  morning,  and  were  starting  on 
their  wedding  trip.  The  captain  gallantly 
offered  the  bride  his  arm,  and  led  her  to  the 
bridal  room,  the  special  cabin  kept  for  bride 
and  groom,  decorated  with  floral  allegories. 
At  the  table,  seated  on  his  right,  he  paid  her 
the  compliments  due  to  her  changed  posi- 
tion. The  passengers  drank  to  the  health 
of  the  bride,  and  all  the  disconcerting  atten- 
tion which  would  have  frightened  a  young 
woman  in  Europe,  seemed  very  simple  and 
natural  to  the  American.  She  meets  it 
again  at  the  hotel,  where  her  new  dignity 
attracts  the  respectful  attention  of  every- 
one. She  lives  better  and  at  less  expense. 
For  the  same  price  in  a  cheap  flat  she 
would  have  from  the  start  to  train  one  serv- 
ant for  good  or  ill,  an  incapable  German  or 
a  stubborn  Irish  girl.  She  would  have  to 
order  the  meals,  the  preparation  of  which 
she  ought  to  oversee,  or  she  must  prepare 


114     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

them  herself;  she  must  be  on  her  guard 
against  the  tradespeople,  must  foresee,  cal- 
culate, master  the  art  of  housekeeping, 
which  has  as  little  in  common  with  the 
demands  of  her  new  position  as  with  those 
of  her  husband,  who  wishes  to  find  her  upon 
his  return  well  dressed,  elegant,  and  calm, 
devoted  to  him,  and  with  a  mind  free  from 
vulgar  care  and  confusion.  The  hotel  gives 
her  all  this.  In  its  comfortable  shelter  she 
lives  at  her  ease,  free  from  material  occupa- 
tion and  heavy  work. 

While  her  husband  is  away,  she  has 
no  other  occupation  beyond  her  toilet,  her 
intellectual  pursuits,  and  visits  to  receive 
and  make.  In  the  hotel  are  a  number  of 
young  women  in  a  like  position  with  whom 
she  can  become  acquainted,  go  out,  and 
chat.  For  her,  as  for  her  husband,  it  is 
only  a  camping  out,  a  temporary  home, 
while  waiting  for  the  permanent  one.  But 
temporary  as  it  is,  it  may  continue  beyond 
their  expectations ;  and  if  this  mode  of 
existence  has  advantages,  it  has  also  dan- 
gers. More  than  one  scandal  which  the 
press  has  echoed  has  had  its  birth  here. 
Idleness  is  an  evil  counsellor,  and  in  simplify- 
ing one's  duties  one  often  comes  to  exagger- 
ate his;  rights  and  to  abuse  them.  The  great 
liberty  which  the  Americans  enjoy  is  not 


THE  WOMEN  OF  TBE  UNITED  STATES.     115 

without  its  perils,  and  the  difference  between 
the  young  girl's  flirting  and  the  young 
woman's  natural  desire  to  please  is  not 
learned  in  a  single  day.  Between  her  hus- 
band, who,  absorbed  in  business,  is  away  all 
day,  and  the  absence  of  duties  which  fill  up 
the  long  empty  hours,  there  is  only  room  for 
her  own  occupations,  or  for  the  distractions 
which  present  themselves.  She  receives 
whoever  seems  good  to  her  and  she  goes 
wherever  she  wishes.  Her  more  guarded 
coquetry  is  also  more  dangerous,  and  to 
some  frivolous  and  fickle  women  coquetry  is 
second  nature.  They  form  a  court  about 
them,  as  they  did  when  unmarried,  and  to 
this  perilous  game  more  than  one  succumbs  ; 
the  respect  of  others  no  longer  defends  her 
against  her  own  weakness.  These  dangers 
are  much  more  frequent  in  the  boarding 
houses,  which  are  so  numerous  in  New 
York.  Here  young  couples  of  more  limited 
resources  can  live  cheaper  than  in  a  hotel. 
They  rent  a  room  and  take  their  meals  there, 
meeting  other  guests  in  the  general  drawing- 
room.  Mr.  Claudio-Jannet,  who  does  not 
respect  these  much  bepraised  customs  of 
the  Americans,  points  out  in  his  remarkable 
work  on  the  United  States  of  to-day  the 
serious  inconveniences  of  this  mode  of  living  : 
"  Ten,  twelve,  fifteen  families  live  under  the 


116     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

same  roof,  all  brought  together  by  chance. 
There  is  no  need  of  laying  stress  on  the  evils 
which  arise  in  such  a  promiscuous  gather- 
ing. For  families  to  submit  to  it  they  must 
already,  necessarily,  have  lost  all  sense  of 
the  proprieties  of  married  life,  and  of  the 
duties  of  paternity." 

The  principal  reason  for  this  kind  of  liv- 
ing is  found,  first,  in  the  expense  of  living  in 
large  cities  and  the  impossibility  of  procur- 
ing at  a  reasonable  price  servants  who  know 
heir  duties.  Then  there  is  the  idea  of 
luxury,  which  is  unquestionably  associated 
with  that  of  respectability.  By  a  strange 
contrast  this  craving  for  luxury  is  as  innate 
in  the  American  woman,  whose  mind  is  taken 
up  with  appearances,  as  it  is  absent  from  the 
man,  who  is  indifferent  to  appearances,  and 
thinking  only  of  realities.  He  loves  money 
and  devotes  all  his  physical  and  mental 
energies  to  acquiring  it,  because  money  is 
the  tangible  and  visible  stamp  of  success. 
For  himself,  however,  he  uses  but  little  and 
asks  for  but  little  of  it.  It  is  the  wife  who 
is  his  luxury,  as  she  is  his  instrument  for 
spending  money  ;  and,  millionaire  though 
he  be,  or  may  become,  his  life  is  one  of 
incessant  labour  and  of  overwhelming  cares. 
On  the  other  hand,  one  can  with  difficulty 
imagine  the  great  display  which  the  wife  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     117 

the  wealthy  banker  or  well-known  merchant 
makes  in  her  palace  on  Fifth  Avenue,  while 
from  his  simple  manner,  and  often  neglected 
appearance,  the  husband  might  be  taken  at 
first  sight  for  a  merchant  in  less  than  mod- 
erate circumstances. 

It  is  here  in  the  " upper  ten"  (a  term 
which  has  almost  lost  its  value  in  the  United 
States  since  the  day  when  an  annual 
revenue  of  ten  thousand  dollars  was  con- 
sidered a  fortune)  that  one  must  look  for 
the  American  woman  in  her  true  surround- 
ings. These  she  owes,  in  most  cases,  to  her 
beauty,  to  her  art  in  charming  and  attract- 
ing people,  to  that  faculty  of  discernment 
which  made  her  choose  a  man  capable  of 
gaining  the  high  position  to  which  she 
aspired.  They  have,  each  of  them,  their 
separate  spheres.  She  has  the  eclat  of 
wealth,  worldly  prominence,  haughty  exclu- 
siveness.  He  has  the  power  which  millions 
give — a  power  stronger  and  more  lasting 
than  that  with  which  the  Chief  Magistrate  of 
the  state  is  invested,  who  is  restricted  by  his 
modest  salary  of  fifty  thousand  dollars,  by 
his  limited  power,  and  by  his  tenure  of  office, 
which  expires  at  the  end  of  four  years. 

"  When  one  of  these  railroad  kings  rode 
from  New  York  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific 
in  his  palace  car,"  writes  Mr.  Bryce,  "his 


118     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

trip  was  a  triumphal  excursion.  The  Gov- 
ernors of  the  States  and  of  the  Territories 
hurried  to  meet  him  and  to  pay  him 
homage.  The  legislative  assemblies  gave 
solemn  receptions  in  his  honour.  The  cities 
rivalled  one  another  in  sparing  no  expense 
in  receiving  him  in  order  to  gain  his  good 
will.  Unpopular  as  are  these  powerful  com- 
panies which  from  one  end  of  the  Republic 
to  the  other  work  out  their  despotic  will, 
those  who  are  connected  with  them  receive 
no  lesser  tribute  of  deference  and  admira- 
tion than  every  American  gives  to  whoso- 
ever personifies  a  groat  work." 

Heads  are  necessary  to  every  social  organ- 
isation. Thoroughly  democratic  as  is  this 
race,  it  has  its  aristocrats,  found  in  the 
Southern  States  among  the  ancient  families 
of  English  or  of  French  extraction,  and  in 
the  North  among  the  descendants  of  those 
who  have  won  the  first  rank  in  society  by 
the  force  of  their  will,  by  indomitable  effort, 
and  by  success.  The  old  aristocratic  tradi- 
tions still  exist  in  Boston,  Baltimore,  and 
Philadelphia,  and  instead  of  growing  less 
are  increasing.  The  coats  of  arms  prove 
this,  and  the  carefully  recorded  genealogies. 
The  Biddies  have  traced  theirs  back  beyond 
the  Norman  invasion ;  the  Whartons  to 
1546 ;  the  Chapmans  count  Sir  Walter 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     119 

Raleigh  among  their  ancestors  ;  the  Cad- 
waladers  date  theirs  from  Robert  II.  of 
Scotland  ;  the  Novins  from  1573  ;  the  Mont- 
gomerys  are  descended  from  the  Earls  of 
Eglinton.  Mr.  Charles  Browning,  in  his 
book  entitled  Americans  of  Royal  De- 
scent, cites  as  many  as  twenty  families 
among  whose  ancestors  are  found  Edward 
I.,  Henry  IY.,  and  Edward  III.,  of  England, 
James  I.  of  Scotland,  and  Philip  III.  of 
France.  In  New  York,  where  a  moneyed 
aristocracy  predominates,  it  is  not  the 
founders  of  great  fortunes  who  hold  the 
highest  rank,  but  their  sons  and  their  grand- 
sons. The  founders  themselves  have  other 
things  to  do.  It  is  necessary  to  devote  time 
to  acquiring  wealth  ;  and  every  social  ambi- 
tion is  excluded  by  their  mighty  task.  An 
intelligent  and  refined  woman  alone  can 
make  one  forget  the  origin  of  her  millions 
by  veiling  with  grace  and  beauty  an  humble 
origin  and  the  vulgar  toil  of  the  founder 
of  her  family.  Women  have  accomplished 
this  in  the  case  of  the  Astors,  of  the  Vander- 
bilts,  of  the  Lorillards,  and  of  many  others 
whose  wealth  is  socially  ennobled  because  of 
the  use  they  have  made  of  it.  These  mil- 
lionaires possess  the  revenues  of  kings  with- 
out any  of  the  kings'  responsibilities,  and 
it  is  easy  to  understand  what  their  descend- 


120     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ants  can  accomplish  with  so  powerful  an 
instrument  in  their  hands.  The  fancy-dress 
ball  which  Mrs.  William  H.  Vanderbilt 
gave  on  the  26th  of  March,  1883,  in  order  to 
open  her  palatial  residence  on  Fifth  Avenue 
for  whose  decoration  six  hundred  workmen 
and  sixty  sculptors,  brought  from  Europe, 
had  been  employed  for  eighteen  months, 
surpassed  in  its  lavish  display  of  diamonds 
and  in  richness  of  toilets  the  most  sumptu- 
ous affair  ever  seen  at  European  courts. 
They  talk  still  in  New  York  of  the  marvel- 
lous apparition  of  the  hostess  dressed  as  a 
Venetian  princess,  and  of  the  dazzling  court 
costume  worn  by  Lady  Mandeville  and 
copied  after  a  portrait  by  Van  Dyck. 

The  natural  tendency  of  all  aristocracy  that 
has  as  its  foundation  birth,  public  services, 
or  the  possession  of  wealth  is  to  maintain 
and  defend  its  rights  by  forming  a  distinct 
and  exclusive  circle.  The  wealthy  families 
of  New  York,  the  old  families  of  Boston 
and  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  aristocratic 
descendants  of  the  Southern  settlers  pre- 
serve the  same  exclusiveness.  Their  doors, 
hospitably  open  to  strangers  whose  reputa- 
tion is  good,  are  closed  to  parvenus  who  beg 
admission.  They  keep  aloof  even  among 
themselves  and  among  those  of  equal  rank  ; 
and  these  invisible  barriers  of  a  democratic 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     121 

etiquette  recall  in  certain  instances  those  of 
our  ancient  courts.  Nothing  less  than  the 
eclat  of  the  Vanderbilt  ball  is  necessary  to 
celebrate  their  entrance  into  the  high  life  of 
New  York,  and  nothing  less  than  the  tact 
and  the  s  avoir  fair  e  of  Lady  Mandeville  to 
bring  Mrs.  Astor,  the  leader  of  New  York 
society,  to  visit  Mrs.  William  H.  Vander- 
bilt, which  gave  the  latter  the  right  of  ask- 
ing to  her  ball  a  family  which  until  then 
had  affected  ignorance  of  her  very  existence. 
This  social  incident  assumed  at  the  time  the 
proportions  of  a  great  event.  It  served  as 
the  subject  of  conversation  in  clubs  and 
drawing  rooms,  and  the  press  was  not  spar- 
ing in  entertaining  its  readers  with  the  de- 
tails of  the  meeting.  In  this  wealthy  and 
exclusive  world  the  role  of  woman  alone 
is  visible.  It  is  about  her  that  the  ele- 
gance of  luxury  and  the  splendour  of  social 
life  centre.  Writers  and  reporters  stand  at 
a  distance,  on  the  watch  for  her  every  move- 
ment. Her  toilets  and  her  trips  to  the 
country,  her  receptions  and  her  journeys, 
are  duly  chronicled,  with  full  comments. 
The  complicated  mechanism  of  this  life  is  a 
strange  contrast  to  its  environment  and  to 
democratic  institutions. 

Secretary,  and  reader,    and  young  lady 
companions  perform  the  functions  of  maids 


122     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  honour  ;  a  world  of  lackeys  and  of  maids, 
directed  as  in  England  by  a  butler  and  a 
housekeeper;  in  travelling,  a  palace-car, 
which  they  leave  at  the  station  where  they 
stop,  and  the  luxurious  management  of 
which  is  left  to  special  valets  and  couriers  ; 
carriages  sent  in  advance  to  designated 
places ;  menus  telegraphed  to  the  large 
hotels — a  whole  extraordinarily  sumptuous 
system  burdensome  and  monotonous,  in 
which  nothing  is  left  to  fancy  or  caprice. 
It  is  the  tangible  evidence  of  a  moneyed 
aristocracy,  in  which  every  customary  object 
is  stamped  with  a  special  mark,  as  is  every 
act  of  life. 

V. 

Between  these  millionaires,  powerless  to 
spend  their  income,  but  often  powerless  to 
enjoy  it,  and  the  petty  tradesman  just 
beginning,  the  lawyer  and  the  physician 
in  quest  of  practice,  the  broker  and  the 
employe,  who  demand  the  vulgar  luxury  of 
a  hotel,  or  at  least  the  doubtful  comfort  of  a 
boarding  house  (which  gives  that  appearance 
of  respectability  which  the  American  woman 
claims),  vibrates  a  middle  class  in  moderately 
easy  circumstances,  corresponding  to  our 
bourgeoisie,  though  it  has  neither  the  strict 
economy  nor  the  moderate  desires  of  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     123 

latter.  One  finds  in  the  male  American  of 
this  class  ambitious  aims,  the  cold  energy  of  a 
race  of  hardy  pioneers  let  loose  on  a  limitless 
continent;  and  in  his  wife  these  ambitions  are 
translated  into  social  aspirations  which  are 
often  beyond  her  means,  but  which  her  con- 
fidence in  her  real  worth  justifies  in  her  eyes. 
Her  elegance  demands  a  setting,  just  as  her 
beauty  demands  a  toilet.  Wealth  is  a 
necessity,  and  the  daily  gain  of  her  husband 
is  for  both  nothing  but  the  stepping-stone 
to  a  brilliant  future. 

They  spend  what  they  make,  sure  of 
themselves  and  of  the  future,  carried  on 
by  the  stream  of  prosperity,  which  in  less 
than  a  single  century  has  made  the  great 
Republic  the  richest  country  in  the  world. 
They  have  inherited  the  nomadic  tastes  of 
their  ancestors.  Nothing  binds  them  to  one 
place  more  than  to  another.  The  best  place 
is  that  which  gives  them  the  greatest  oppor- 
tunities of  attaining  their  end,  and  this  is  one 
where  the  population  increases  most  rapidly. 
Chicago  or  San  Francisco,  St.  Louis  or  New 
Orleans,  the  West  or  the  South,  the  new 
Territories  or  the  old  States— wherever  they 
establish  themselves  they  will  find,  he 
a  wide  field  of  activity  and  the  same  con- 
ditions of  living ;  she,  the  same  considera- 
tion, the  same  attention.  Wherever  they 


^jBRAsp* 


124     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

go,  her  pre-eminence  will  follow  them.  In 
travelling,  in  the  hotels,  on  the  railroads,  on 
the  boats,  her  husband  is  nothing  more  to 
her  than  a  protector.  It  is  she,  on  the 
other  hand,  whose  presence  gives  him  every 
privilege  and  advantage.  It  is  because  he 
is  with  her  that  he  has  a  right  to  the  best 
seats  and  the  best  staterooms,  that  he  is 
admitted  into  the  "ladies'  parlour,"  that  he 
sits  as  the  head  of  the  table  cPJiote  and  is 
served  among  the  first.  In  order  to  avoid 
the  distressing  promiscuity  that  one  meets 
with,  and  the  lack  of  attention  which  in 
America  is  the  lot  of  bachelors,  someone 
has  humourously  suggested  that  the  tourist 
should  travel  with  his  cook.  He  would  then 
be  escorting  a  woman,  and  would  profit  by 
all  the  advantages  of  the  position. 

In  every  detail  of  social  life  these  privi- 
leges of  woman  appear.  The  sovereignty  of 
all  heightens  the  prestige  of  the  individual. 
Once  married,  this  prestige  is  hers,  and  in 
order  to  assert  itself  in  a  narrower  circle 
her  influence  gains  in  strength  all  that  it 
loses  in  breadth.  She  is  the  secret  motive 
power,  the  counsellor  who  is  heeded.  She 
excites  ambition  and,  impatient  for  success, 
often  discounts  the  future  and  deserves  the 
criticism  of  spending  far  too  lavishly,  and 
of  not  taking  precautions  against  losses, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     125 

sickness,  or  ill  luck.  In  the  middle  class 
especially  this  criticism  is  just,  and  it  is 
with  reason  that  some  American  women  are 
accused  of  bringing  ruin  on  their  families. 
They  approach  too  closely  to  the  world  of 
the  rich,  and  often  fall  into  the  temptation 
of  imitating  it.  It  is  particularly  so  in  the 
refined  and  civilised  Eastern  States.  The 
West,  more  healthful  morally,  and  physi- 
cally more  vigorous,  has  become  by  circum- 
stances the  reserve  force  of  the  future,  the 
place  where  the  primitive  type  grows  and 
acquires  renewed  strength.  Chamfort  said, 
"Original  types  are  indeed  necessary  to 
make  a  world."  There  enters,  in  fact,  into 
the  social  organisation  of  a  great  people  a 
multitude  of  different  elements.  In  analys- 
ing them  separately  we  run  the  risk  of  reach- 
ing illogical  conclusions,  because  involun- 
tarily our  attention  is  more  forcibly  drawn 
to  those  which  differ  from  a  general  law 
than  to  those  which  observe  it.  Intellectually 
we  are  more  affected  by  that  which  offends 
our  ideas  than  by  that  which  conforms  to 
them,  just  as  in  the  same  way  physically 
our  ears  are  more  offended  by  a  false  note 
than  satisfied  by  a  correct  one. 

Again,  the  majority  of  foreign  observers 
are  above  all  impressed  by  what  seems  to 
them  a  striking  contrast  between  our  own 


126     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

idea  of  woman's  role  and  the  American 
idea.  In  the  attention  which  she  receives 
across  the  Atlantic  some  see  only  a  banal 
courtesy,  concealing  a  depth  of  moral 
indifference  and  of  physical  coldness  in- 
herent in  the  race.  Others  discover  in  it 
a  devotion  which  no  real  superiority  justi- 
fies. All  have  noticed  the  perversity  of  the 
idol,  her  coquetry,  her  love  of  luxury,  her 
too  free  manner,  her  too  noisy  gaiety,  her 
doubtful  taste,  her  superficial  knowledge, 
and  all  these  facts  astonish  them.  There  is 
truth  in  all  this  ;  but  there  are  more  and 
better  things  in  the  American  woman. 

Coquetry  is  inborn  in  the  American,  but 
it  does  not  exclude  deep  and  serious  feel- 
ings. This  coquetry  is  only  the  legitimate 
outcome  of  a  natural  instinct,  which  puts 
her  at  the  right  moment  on  natural  ground 
in  order  to  attain  a  natural  result.  The  love 
of  luxury,  inherent  in  almost  everyone,  is 
the  logical  result,  though  exaggerated,  of 
an  irresistible  stream  of  prosperity  which 
draws  the  whole  country  along  with  it. 
One  cannot  ask  them  to  go  back.  Their 
intrepid  optimism,  their  faith  in  the  future, 
disconcert  our  European  pessimism,  but  are 
justified  by  their  past.  Their  manner, 
though  too  free,  is  the  result  of  hereditary 
independence,  and  of  the  respect  which  sur- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     127 

rounds  them.  They  use  it,  and  perhaps 
abuse  it,  but  only  for  a  time,  and  these 
giddy  girls,  all  things  considered,  make 
most  reasonable  women. 

The  exuberance  of  their  gaiety  does  no 
harm  to  the  seriousness  of  their  mind,  and 
their  intellects,  if  they  do  not  excel,  are  at 
least  equal  to  those  of  European  women. 
Does  this  mean  that  they  are  perfect,  that  the 
young  American  girl  and  woman  realise  an 
ideal  unknown  elsewhere  ?  No,  surely  not. 
They  are  different,  and  for  the  very  reasons 
we  have  shown.  The  starting  point,  the 
surroundings,  the  customs,  the  usages  and 
laws,  have  contributed  in  their  respective 
ways  to  mould  and  make  them  what  they 
are.  To  what  extent  have  these  various 
elements  raised  or  lowered  the  moral  stand- 
ard of  the  young  Republic  during  the 
past  century  ?  What  are  the  results  of  this 
idea  of  woman's  role  so  different  from 
ours? 

These  are  the  questions  which  the  Ameri- 
can woman  asks  at  the  present  day,  discon- 
certed by  widely  heralded  lawsuits,  by 
scandals,  by  the  misunderstandings  and  the 
contradictions  of  the  laws  of  marriage  and 
divorce,  and  by  the  growing  number  of 
social  outcasts.  A  well-put  question  is  half 
answered.  The  Americans  treat  this,  deli- 


128     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

cate  as  it  is,  with  an  intrepid  frankness.  It 
is  a  question  worthy  of  thought,  and  per- 
haps it  will  be  useful  to  note  the  conclusions 
at  which  they  arrive,  and  the  solutions 
which  they  propose. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Marriage  and  Divorce  in  the  United  States — Extreme  Laxity 
of  the  Laws — Typical  Cases — Legislation  of  the  Differ- 
ent States — Adventuresses — Woman  in  the  Far  West — 
Story  of  Belle  Starr. 

I. 

IT  seems  as  though  at  certain  times  in 
their  history  civilised  nations,  the  advance 
guards  of  humanity  on  the  march  toward  an 
unknown  future,  hesitate,  come  to  a  stand- 
still, and  begin  to  question  one  another. 
In  the  half  light  through  which  they  are 
journeying  one  ray  has  disappeared ;  a 
great  intellect  has  been  cut  down  by  death  ; 
the  torch  gives  only  a  flickering  light ; 
some  religious  belief  that  has  been  trans- 
mitted from  father  to  son,  some  social  insti- 
tution that  has  been  hallowed  by  centuries — 
men  would  begin  to  doubt  these  if  he  knew 
by  what  they  could  be  replaced.  Are  men 
deceived,  then?  Yes,  and  for  the  same 
cause  that  in  a  narrow  road  a  broken  axle- 
tree  can  delay  the  march  of  an  army ;  for 
the  same  cause  that  when  one  of  the  wheels 
of  the  social  machine  grates  and  stops,  it  is 


130     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

necessary  to  repair  it  to  the  best  of  one's 
ability.  These  accidents  occur  frequently, 
and  there  is  no  lack  of  signals  to  give  no- 
tice of  them  nor  of  special  workmen  to  find 
a  remedy.  The  press  gives  the  alarm. 
Thinkers  and  philosophers  comment  and 
suggest,  assemblies  discuss  and  make  light 
of  it,  and  the  cumbrous  machine  being 
righted  for  better  for  worse,  goes  on  its 
way  until  another  stop  occurs. 

Sometimes  it  is  only  a  false  alarm  ;  a  cry 
of  some  few  who  are  impatient  and  discon- 
certed by  unexpected  occurrences,  and  who, 
from  the  fact  that  a  force  which  has 
changed  its  direction  works  badly  in  their 
case,  conclude  from  this  that  it  will  act  the 
same  in  the  case  of  others.  So  they  take  an 
accidental  phenomenon,  and,  as  the  result  of 
chance  circumstances,  they  infer  from  it  a 
universal  disorder.  Thus  it  happens  that 
with  every  nation,  in  every  age,  and  espe- 
cially when  the  difficulty  of  communication 
and  of  interchange  of  ideas  increases  ten- 
fold the  distance  which  separates  them,  the 
horizon  of  each  is  limited  and  narrow. 

Man  has  an  invincible  tendency  toward 
generalisation.  He  scorns  the  belief  that 
there  is  abundance  elsewhere  when  famine 
has  him  by  the  throat ;  he  scorns  the  peace 
and  prosperity  which  are  beyond  his  own 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     131 

frontiers  when  within  them  rages  destruc- 
tive war ;  he  will  not  admit  that  his  per- 
sonal ruin  is  not  felt  a  few  feet  away,  that 
the  adversity  which  holds  him  fast  is 
spared  his  neighbour,  or  that  others  suffer 
while  everything  goes  well  with  him.  The 
same  doubt  comes  to  him  on  the  subject  of 
social  institutions,  in  one  place  favoured  and 
in  another  injured  by N  political,  moral,  or 
religious  change,  on  account  of  the  tenden- 
cies of  the  age,  the  customs,  or  the  laws, 
which  are  changeable,  while  the  institutions 
are  unchanged.  But  amazement  grows,  and 
confusion  increases,  when,  after  having  built 
a  costly  and  complicated  machine,  and  hav- 
ing wisely  planned  a  social  organisation, 
he  is  obliged  to  recognise  the  well-known 
fact  that  the  result  obtained  is  diametri- 
cally opposed  to  what  was  looked  for,  and 
that  a  false  turn  involving  a  retrograde  move-  , 
merit  retards  instead  of  advancing  it.  This 
is  the  feeling  which  is  at  present  agitating 
the  United  States  with  regard  to  the  insti- 
tution of  marriage,  the  foundation  of  mod- 
ern society. 

Determined,  before  all  else,  to  establish 
marriage  on  the  highest  religious  and  moral 
authority  that  the  world  has  ever  known, 
American  legislators  believed  it  necessary  to 
admit  that  the  imperfections  of  human 


132     m#  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


If-l 


nature  do  not  admit  of  absolute  laws,  or 
unbreakable  ties.  Divorce  seemed  to  be 
only  a  necessary  resort  in  exceptional  cases 
carefully  foreseen  and  minutely  determined 
upon  ;  but  this  provision  once  admitted  has 
become,  if  not  a  rule,  at  least  an  exception 
which  is  growing.  To-day  the  evil  cannot 
be  denied.  It  is  increasing,  and  manifests 
itself  the  more  strongly  inasmuch  as  it  has 
been  slow  in  coming.  Every  year  the  num- 
ber of  divorce  cases  increases0  In  the  past 
twenty  years  the  courts  have  granted  328,- 
716.  The  demand  for  them  grows  ;  and  the 
press,  in  bringing  these  facts  before  the  pub- 
lic, points  out  at  the  same  time  the  dangers 
of  defective  legislation,  and  the  reforms 
which  might  be  made  in  it.  It  expresses 
wonder,  and  not  without  reason,  on  seeing 
the  institution  of  marriage  imperilled  in 
the  cases  where  more  than  anywhere  else 
one  would  suppose  it  to  be  built  on  in- 
destructible foundations,  and  upheld  by 
every  possible  guarantee.  How,  in  short, 
can  such  a  thing  be  explained  in  a  nation 
religious  by  conviction,  cold  by  tempera- 
ment, moral  by  instinct,  having  a  deep 
respect  for  women,  to  whom  it  grants, 
apart  from  the  equality  of  political  rights, 
social  privileges  which  are  theirs  only  in 
the  New  World  ?  How  can  we  admit  that 


TEE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     133 

these  different  elements,  of  which  each 
in  itself  constitutes  a  moral  force  in  the 
service  of  a  social  cause,  and  of  which  the 
whole  number  represents  the  sum  of  the 
conditions  requisite  to  assure  a  twofold  con- 
secration, human  and  divine,  for  the  mar- 
riage tie — how  can  we  admit  that  these  ele- 
ments in  the  end  relax  these  ties  to  the 
point  where  one  must  believe  that  they 
exist  only  by  the  will  of  the  parties,  and 
not  by  the  authority  of  the  law  ?  Certainly 
one  cannot  maintain  but  that,  assailed  by 
a  licentious  literature,  ridiculed  on  the 
stage,  where  success  is  proportionate  to 
scandal,  and  discussed  by  publicists,  the 
institution  of  marriage  is,  in  the  United 
States,  the  butt  of  incessant  and  repeated 
attacks,  and  that  public  opinion,  indifferent 
to  the  rights  of  women,  shows  toward  those 
who  scorn  it  only  a  sorry  complaisance. 
In  fact,  novelists,  authors,  and  journalists 
seem  to  have  enough  to  do  in  defending 
themselves  without  making  any  attacks. 
They  demand,  with  a  loud  voice,  air  and 
room  :  they  are  suffocating,  they  say,  in  the 
narrow  limits  where  woman's  unreasonable- 
ness keeps  them.  If  of  late  their  protesta- 
tions have  become  louder,  their  claims 
surely  are  nothing  extraordinary. 

"  Since  the  author  of  Tom  Jones"  wrote 


134     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Thackeray,  unot  one  novelist  among  us  has 
been  able  to  portray  a  human  being  as  he  is. 
It  is  necessary  for  us  to  clothe  him  in  a  cer- 
tain dress,  to  give  him  a  certain  character 
and  a  conventional  manner  of  speech.  Our 
readers,  especially  our  women  readers,  do 
not  admit  the  natural  in  our  art."  This 
v.,  was  written  thirty  years  ago,  and  ever  since, 
I  American  writers  have  not  ceased  to  reiter- 
<  ate  Thackeray's  complaints.  They  blame 
\  "the  young  girl,"  the  idol  for  whom  much 
is  sacrificed,  the  terror  of  the  writers  and 
the  editors  of  reviews,  who  bow  before  her, 
slaves  to  her  wishes,  to  her  preferences,  and 
who  tremble  at  the  idea  of  offending  her 
modesty  and  delicate  feelings.  Rider 
Haggard  and  "Ouida"  in  England,  Boye- 
sen,  Julian  Hawthorne,  Lathrop,  and 
even  Henry  James  in  the  United  States, 
demand  a  release  from  "  this  insupportable 
tyranny."  If  those  who  are  advocates  of  a 
national  literature  think  the  hour  is  come 
to  shake  off  the  yoke,  if  the  most  impetu- 
ous of  them  declare  with  Edgar  Fawcett 
that  "modesty  is  a  thing  of  latitude  and 
longitude"  and  that  the  American  novelist 
is  ' '  struggling,  paralysed,  in  the  bonds  of  a 
false  prudery,"  still  the  majority  think, 
with  Charles  Dudley  Warner,  that  "all 
that  a  writer  can  hope  to  do  is  not  to  limit 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     135 

himself  to  writing  only  for  yonng  girls,  and 
not  to  admit  them  as  judges  without  appeal 
of  the  worth  of  a  literary  work." 

Women  authors  go  further  in  their  affir- 
mations. "  Either  the  young  girl  or  the 
writer — one  of  the  two — ought  to  be  sacri- 
ficed, it  seems  to  me,"  writes  Mrs.  Gertrude  ' 
Franklin  Atherton.  "If  an  author  de- 
picts the  world  as  he  sees  it,  he  is  re- 
proached witli  corrupting  innocence.  If  he 
represents  it  as  he  wishes,  he  puts  himself  in 
the  wrong.  Surely  the  young  girl  is  not  a  fac- 
tor to  be  overlooked,  especially  in  America  ; 
but  it  is  her  mother's  business  and  not  that 
of  the  writer  to  enlighten  her.  An  author 
owes  his  readers  truth,  and  the  whole  truth. 
It  is  for  him  to  tell  it  artistically  and  with- 
out offending  morality."  "  Let  us,  for  once, 
dispose  of  the  young  girl,"  writes  Julian 
Hawthorne,  with  a  certain  brutality,  "or 
else  let  her  make  up  her  mind  to  hear  and 
to  understand  the  truth.  Her  would-be 
champions  affirm  that  this  would  make  her 
no  longer  read  us.  I  have  an  idea  that  she 
would  read  us  just  the  same,  and  find  no 
more  evil  in  us." 

For  want  of  writers,  should  we  blame  the 
laws  and  a  guilty  tolerance  ?  Neither  mo- 
rality nor  the  laws  excuse  wrongdoers.  We 
have  shown  above  how,  between  a  wronged 


136     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

family  and  the  courts,  that  are  always  ready 
to  inflict  crushing  penalties  on  him,  the  pro- 
fession of  a  Don  Juan  cannot  thrive  in  the 
United  States.  Moreover,  the  American 
woman  is  practical,  and  rarely  has  an  ex- 
alted imagination.  It  is  neither  her  weak- 
ness, nor  man's  boldness,  nor  any  excess  of 
literature,  nor  the  press,  nor  the  stage  which  . 
must  be  blamed.  These  different  causes, 
which  elsewhere  have  helped  more  or  less  to 
weaken  respect  for  the  marriage  tie,  have  no 
influence  here.  Is  it  for  want  of  religious 
feeling  ?  Nowhere  has  this  feeling  with- 
stood the  shock  of  modern  ideas  as  bravely 
as  it  has  in  the  United  States.  Indifference 
to  religion  is  riot  good  form  any  more  than 
atheism  is  fashionable.  Universal  tolerance 
for  it  has  not  engendered  universal  scepti- 
cism. Catholicism  is  strong,  thanks  to  the 
conservatism  of  the  Irish,  and  Protestantism 
plays  an  important  role  in  every  sphere  of 
private  and  public  life.  The  evil  is  not, 
then,  due  to  a  lack  of  religious  feeling  ;  the 
cause  is  elsewhere.  It  lies  in  the  multiplic- 
ity of  the  marriage  and  divorce  laws.  Each 
State  has  its  own,  for  each  State,  being  su- 
preme in  itself,  has  passed  laws  on  the  sub- 
ject, and,  far  from  starting  from  the  same 
premises  to  reach  the  same  conclusion,  has 
enacted  different  provisions. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      137 

Everywhere  men  are  inspired  with  the 
same  religious  and  moral  ideas,  and  this 
leads  to  a  surprising  disorder,  to  the  most 
absurd  and  confused  complications,  to  the 
question  which  many  married  couples  may 
ask  themselves,  and  which  the  New  York 
Herald*  propounds  to  them:  "Are  you 
legally  married,  wife  or  mistress,  husband 
or  lover?  Have  our  marriage  and  divorce 
laws  answered  the  purpose  which  we  have 
the  right  to  expect  of  them,  or  has  the  time 
come  to  declare  them  defective  ?" 

This  confusion  explains  itself,  and  these 
consequences  were  to  be  foreseen.  It  was 
not  enough,  in  short,  to  strive  separately 
for  the  same  result.  It  was  desirable  to 
take  account  of  the  different  elements 
which,  working  unconsciously  on  the  mind 
of  the  legislators,  have  made  them  adopt 
different  limitations  according  to  circum- 
stances, and  to  consider  also  the  moral 
atmosphere  which  they  breathed  and  with 
which  they  were  inspired.  They  legislated 
not  for  a  nation,  but  for  a  particular  section, 
a  single  State,  often  of  small  population  ; 
and  the  laws  which  they  enacted,  being 
limited  to  this  State,  recorded  first  of  all 
the  local  customs  and  tendencies,  the  tradi- 
tions and  ideas  of  the  people — here  urban, 

*  January  2,  1890. 


138     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

there  rural,  here  exclusively  Puritan,  there 
formed  by  the  immigration  of  both  Catho- 
lics and  Protestants.  Again,  the  prosperity 
of  the  State  depends  on  the  increase  of 
population,  and  each  is  interested  in  favour- 
ing this  increase,  in  drawing  to  itself  the 
emigrant  or  the  American  nomad,  in  sim- 
plifying as  much  as  possible  by  its  legisla- 
tion the  accomplishment  of  social  acts,  in 
rendering  marriage  easy  and  divorce  also, 
in  avoiding  those  complicated  administra- 
tive formalities  which  are  irksome  to  an 
independent  race,  and  one  made  still  more 
independent  by  an  admixture  of  adven- 
turers. On  the  one  hand,  an  excessive  sim- 
plification of  the  conditions  requisite  for 
a  lawful  marriage ;  on  the  other,  different 
causes  for  divorce  in  each  State  ;  every- 
where, especially  at  the  beginning,  great 
facilities  for  obtaining  through  naturalisa- 
tion the  civil  and  political  rights  which 
were  liberally  conceded.  On  this  point 
logic  harmonised  with  self-interest.  The 
starting  point  of  the  settlement  had  been 
the  protest  of  an  oppressed  conscience 
against  a  religious  autocracy  ;  of  liberty 
against  despotism  ;  of  civil  independence 
against  the  minute  system  of  regulation 
found  in  Europe ;  and  the  youth  of  Amer- 
ica, which  was  drawing  the  discontented 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     139 

and  the  impatient  to  her,  and  recruiting- 
partisans  among  her  enemies,  felt  her  own 
strength  grow  as  she  beheld  the  increase 
of  her  citizens.  Instinctively  newcomers 
flocked  whither  the  laws  encroached  least 
on  their  liberty.  As  citizens  they  were 
voters  and  were  eligible  to  office,  so  their 
local  legislation  was  prompted  by  their 
desires  and  reflected  their  wishes.  To-day 
it  is  still  the  same,  and  if  in  certain  States 
of  dense  population,  civilised  and  well  con- 
trolled, more  rigorous  laws  are  also  better 
observed,  in  others,  and  especially  in  the 
new  States  of  the  West,  they  are  still  in 
a  simple,  rudimentary  condition,  and  few  in 
number. 

Of  the  multiplicity  and  variety  of  the 
marriage  and  divorce  laws  the  following  is 
one  very  marked  illustration:  the  conditions 
essential  to  marriage  or  divorce  being  differ- 
ent in  one  State  from  those  in  the  neighbour- 
ing States,  a  marriage  contracted  in  New 
York  has  been  broken  by  a  divorce  granted 
in  Connecticut,  where  the  husband  had  his 
home.  A  second  illustration  is  also  curious  : 
A  man  having  lived  for  several  days  with 
his  mistress  in  one  State,  and  then  having 
broken  off  his  relations  with  her,  and  being 
legally  married  later,  was  convicted  of 
bigamy  ;  this  sole  fact  of  having  lived  with 


140     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

a  woman,  even  though  not  married  to  her, 
making  in  that  State  a  legal  marriage. 

In  the  first  case  the  woman  succeeded  in 
having  the  Connecticut  divorce  annulled  by 
the  New  York  courts,  but  only  so  far  as  con- 
cerns the  State  of  New  York.  The  husband 
is  none  the  less  legally  divorced  from  her 
in  Connecticut.  There  he  can  marry  again, 
and  afterward  annul  this  second  marriage 
in  another  State  and  make  a  third.  Ac- 
cording to  the  State  in  which  he  lives,  he  is 
the  legal  husband  of  a  woman  from  whom 
the  courts  of  another  State  would  free  him 
at  his  request. 

II. 

While  on  this  subject,  let  us  cite  an  ex- 
ample taken  from  the  records  of  the  Ameri- 
can courts. 

Whose  wife  could  Miss  Jane  Quick  have 
been  in  May,  1868  ?  A  fortune  depended  on 
the  solution  of  this  problem,  and  Miss  Jane 
Quick  would  have  gone  to  great  lengths  to 
answer  it.  All  that  she  could  say  was  that 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1850,  she  had  married 
James  P.  Brenton  in  Ohio.  From  there  they 
went  to  Nebraska,  and  in  1863  to  California, 
In  1864  Brenton  left  her  without  telling  her 
where  he  was  going.  He  did  not  return. 
She  went  to  live  with  one  Joseph  Walker,  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     141 

distiller,  and  on  this  account  she  became  the 
subject  of  gossip  in  the  city.  The  report 
spread  that  Brenton  was  dead  and  that  she 
had  married  Walker.  This  report  certainly 
expressed  her  intention.  Walker  made, 
among  other  things,  a  bitter  tonic  liked  by 
the  residents  of  Stockton,  and  which  Mrs. 
Walker  succeeded  in  selling.  Encouraged 
by  his  success,  which  was  in  part  due  to  her, 
and  stimulated  by  her,  he  put  his  tonic  upon 
the  market  of  San  Francisco,  and,  thanks 
to  clever  advertising,  in  which  she  took  the 
initiative,  made  a  considerable  sum  from  it. 
The  enterprise  was  a  successful  one — so 
much  so  that  two  rich  capitalists  took  a  half 
interest  in  it,  and  in  a  few  years  Walker 
realised  a  large  fortune.  In  March,  1868, 
Mrs.  Brenton,  all  this  time  without  news  of 
her  fugitive  husband,  demanded  and  ob- 
tained a  divorce  on  the  ground  of  desertion. 
In  November  of  the  same  year  she  married 
Walker,  and,  consequently,  in  May  had 
not  considered  herself  his  wife.  Then  both 
of  them  came  to  New  York.  But  Miss  Quick 
could  not  be  said  to  be  happy  in  the  choice 
of  her  husbands,  for  shortly  after,  she  sepa- 
rated from  Walker,  who  gave  her  an  annuity 
of  eight  hundred  dollars.  In  1881  Walker 
died.  In  May,  1868,  the  date  of  his  associa- 
tion with  the  capitalists,  was  she  the  wife  or 


142     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  mistress  of  Walker  ?  Were  her  rights 
separate  from  his  or  identical  with  them  ? 
She  bore  his  name,  passed  for  his  wife,  and 
the  court  decided  that  she  was  such,  al- 
though the  marriage  ceremony  had  not 
occurred  until  six  months  later. 

The  examination  of  the  marriage  and  di- 
vorce laws  necessitates  in  each  State  the  con- 
stant attention  of  the  legislator.  Everywhere 
he  wishes  to  protect  and  defend  the  woman 
against  herself  as  well  as  against  man ;  to 
protect  her  from  the  snares  which  are  laid 
before  her  inexperience  ;  to  limit  the  abuse 
of  marital  authority,  and,  as  a  result,  to 
condemn  the  offender  to  heavy  penalties,  to 
multiply  the  causes  of  divorce,  to  insert  in 
the  laws  sections  which  are  most  favourable 
to  the  weaker  sex,  as  is  done  in  Kentucky, 
for  example,  where  the  sole  fact  of  a  man's 
having  put  the  tradesmen  on  their  guard 
against  the  debts  which  his  wife  is  making, 
and  of  having  told  them  that  he  refused  to 
pay  these  debts,  has  been  held  a  sufficient 
cause  for  a  divorce.  The  same  system  is 
criticised  in  other  States  where  a  man  who 
has  lived  with  a  woman,  who  has  let  her 
bear  his  name,  and  who  has  treated  her  as  a 
legitimate  wife  is  considered  legally  married 
to  her.  There  is  seen  in  this  system  a  new 
guarantee  accorded  to  her  sex,  a  protection 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     143 

granted  to  the  young  girl  lured  away  from 
her  family.  They  even  go  further  in  admit- 
ting that  a  proposition  of  marriage,  even  if 
not  carried  out,  could,  in  some  cases,  give 
the  woman  the  rights  and  privileges  of  a 
wife.  One  of  the  most  curious  cases  of  this 
kind  is  the  suit  brought  by  one  Annie  Clark 

against  a  young  man  named  K ,  son  of  a 

prominent  citizen  of  Minnesota. 

Well  known  under  her  Christian  name 
Annie,  the  plaintiff  petitioned  on  the  1st  of 
March,  1887,  before  the  Supreme  Court  in  the 
circuit  of  New  York,  for  a  limited  divorce 
and  an  allowance  for  her  support  from  her 
would-be  husband.  These  are  the  facts  as 
they  appeared  from  her  own  deposition  and 
from  that  of  the  only  witness  whom  she 
produced.  From  the  start  she  realised  that 
her  reputation  was  much  in  question,  as 
she  was  in  the  habit  of  frequenting  public 
balls,  concert-halls,  and  saloons  ;  and  as 
the  young  people  to  whom  she  sub-rented 
rooms  in  the  house  where  she  lived  had  re- 
peatedly had  trouble  with  the  police.  This 
being  admitted,  she  said  that  she  had  mar- 
ried Mr.  K on  the  24th  of  the  preceding 

April.  Where  did  the  marriage  occur  and 
who  were  the  witnesses  ? 

This  she  did  not  explain  with  any  definite- 
ness,  and  the  accused  strongly  denied  it. 


144     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

He  had,  it  seems,  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Annie  in  a  barroom  which  he  ordinarily 
frequented.  The  bartender  had  introduced 
them,  and  they  drank  to  their  better  ac- 
quaintance. Annie,  a  notorious  drinker, 
accepted  everything  offered  her,  and  almost 
daily  they  met  there  and  passed  hours  to- 
gether, emptying  glass  after  glass.  On  the 
24th  of  April,  said  the  defendant,  he  drank 
more  than  usual,  and  Annie  took  him  to 
her  house.  He  had  no  remembrance  of 
having  asked  her  to  marry  him  ;  he  was  in- 
toxicated, and  did  not  return  to  his  home 
until  the  next  day.  The  sole  witness  called 
by  Annie  Clark,  the  bartender,  said  that 

K was  an  excellent  customer,  generous, 

always  paying  for  Annie's  drinks,  and  often 
giving  him  a  dollar  as  a  tip.  On  the 
24th  of  April  he  remembered  that  Annie, 

answering  a  question  of  K 's  which  he 

had  not  heard,  had  said:  " Don't  speak 
so.  I  am  not  a  woman  whom  you  can 

marry."     To  which  K replied:    "Very 

well,  very  well.  I  meant  what  I  said."  He 
was  intoxicated,  added  the  witness,  and 
they  went  out  together.  The  court,  after 
the  hearing,  decided  that,  if  there  was 
any  offer  of  marriage,  or  marriage  itself, 
there  was  no  proof  of  it,  and  the  defend- 
ant, being  in  a  state  of  intoxication,  was 


T2E  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     145 

unconscious  of  his  acts,  and  the  plaintiff  was 
overruled. 

The  affair  is  a  low  one,  and  the  persons 
themselves  are  of  but  little  interest.  What 
attracts  our  attention  is  the  fact  that  such  a 
suit  is  possible  ;  that  a  woman  of  this  class 
is  able  to  allege  her  meeting  with  her  lover 
of  one  day,  and  the  pretended  offer  of  mar- 
riage,— the  sole  witness  of  which  was  a  bar- 
tender, whose  testimony  was  ambiguous, — 
in  order  to  claim  a  separation,  which  would 
be  a  real  recognition  of  marriage,  arid  which 
would  allow  her  to  bear  the  name  of  her  vic- 
tim, and  later,  if  she  survived  him,  to  make 
good  a  claim  to  his  property.  The  sur- 
prising part  is  that  if  the  bartender  had 
been  less  positive  about  the  intoxicated  state 
of  the  defendant,  the  judgment  would  have 

been  different,  and  K would  have  been 

declared  married.  It  would  have  been  pos- 
sible, it  is  true,  for  him  to  demand  a  divorce, 
and  easy  for  him  to  obtain  it,  but  it  would 
have  rested  on  the  payment  of  an  annuity 
for  her  support  proportionate  to  his  means, 
and  Annie  Clark  would  have  borne  his  name. 

The  Court  of  Appeals  in  New  York  re- 
cently made  a  decision,  which  was,  in  brief, 
that  a  divorced  man  is  still  the  husband  of 
his  wife ;  at  least,  that  he  cannot  marry 
again  outside  of  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court 


146     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

— in  New  Jersey,  for  example.  It  decided, 
on  the  other  hand,  that  the  sum  allotted  to  a 
woman  in  whose  favour  the  divorce  has  been 
granted  shall  be  paid,  in  every  case,  so  long 
as  the  husband  lives.  ' '  The  said  allowance, ' ' 
says  the  decision,  "  is  not  meant  merely  to 
insure  the  woman's  actual  maintenance,  but 
to  represent  a  fine  imposed  on  the  husband, 
and  from  the  payment  of  which  death  alone 
can  free  him." 

The  circumstances  under  which  this  last 
decision  was  made  are  characteristic.  A 
jnan  married  a  rich  widow.  Shortly  after, 
she  sued  for  a  divorce  and  obtained  it,  as 
well  as  a  large  annuity.  Possessed  of  the 
fortune  which  had  accrued  from  the  annuity 
which  her  husband  paid  her,  she  married  a 
Southern  planter,  very  rich  himself.  The 
divorced  husband,  considering  himself,  un- 
der the  circumstances,  freed  from  the  heavy 
burden  of  paying  the  pension,  began  to  think 
of  marrying  again.  He  fell  in  love  with  a 
young  girl,  pretty  and  distinguished,  but 
without  fortune,  and  not  being  able  to  marry 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  he  went 
with  his  fiancee  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
State  and  they  were  married.  At  the  date 
fixed  for  the  payment  of  the  annuity  to  his 
first  wife  he  refused  to  pay  it,  offering  to 
prove  that  she  had  no  need  of  it  to  live, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     147 

being  very  much  richer  than  he.  He  lost 
his  suit,  appealed  it,  and  the  highest  court 
of  the  State  rendered  the  decision  which  we 
have  set  forth  above. 

From  an  examination  it  is  shown  that  there 
are  in  New  York  at  the  present  time  a  num- 
ber of  women  who  receive  an  allowance  for 
their  support  not  from  one  husband  alone, 
but  from  two  and  three,  from  all  of  whom 
they  have  been  successively  divorced,  and 
this  is  the  case  even  when  they  are  living 
with  their  third  or  even  their  fourth  hus- 
band. If  one  of  the  unfortunate  ex-hus- 
bands does  not  promptly  pay  his  annuity  at 
the  time  it  becomes  due,  a  simple  notifica- 
tion sent  to  the  court  suffices.  The  delin- 
quent is  arrested  for  "  contempt  of  court,"  is 
imprisoned,  the  costs  of  his  arrest  and  de- 
tention fall  on  him,  and  they  are  so  great 
that  no  one  runs  a  similar  risk  twice.  The 
story  of  a  well-known  dramatic  author  is  still 
remembered  in  New  York.  Condemned  on 
his  wife's  complaint  for  contempt  of  court, 
and  imprisoned  in  Ludlow  Street  Gaol,  he 
was  not  able  to  pay  the  sum  required  for  her 
support,  and  resigned  himself  to  remaining 
in  prison  as  long  as  it  pleased  his  ex-wife  to 
keep  him  there.  To  while  away  his  leisure 
hours  he  set  himself  to  work,  wrote  several 
plays  which  had  a  great  success,  and,  thus 


148     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

enriched,  made  arrangements  in  the  prison 
with  his  late  wife  as  to  his  release,  and  his 
exoneration  from  paying  her  annuity,  by 
means  of  a  lump  sum  paid  in  full  discharge 
of  her  claims.  Everywhere  in  the  customs 
and  in  the  laws  we  find  in  the  United  States 
this  anxious  solicitude,  often  excessive,  in 
regard  to  women.  Where,  in  our  European 
cynicism,  we  can  see  only  a  vulgar  intrigue 
or  an  attempt  to  extort  money,  we  can 
hardly  understand  decisions  of  the  courts 
which  in  the  New  World  astonish  no  one. 
We  are  slow  to  admit  that  a  married  woman 
should  give  evidence  in  open  court  against 
herself,  prove  her  own  misconduct,  produce 
the  letters  of  her  accomplice,  and  all  this  to 
support  a  suit  for  damages,  entered  by  the 
husband  against  the  lover,  and  founded  on 
the  fact  that  the  defendant  had  turned  to 
his  own  profit  the  alienation  of  the  wife's 
affection. 

But  the  fair  sex  has  not  only  the  privi- 
lege of  enlightening  justice,  and  of  making 
its  task  an  easy  one.  Specialists  in  law  say 
that  among  the  divorce  suits  brought  on  ac- 
count of  infidelity  on  the  husband's  part 
there  is  often  neither  an  inquiry  to  make  nor 
proofs  to  be  sought  for,  the  husband  him- 
self coming  forward  to  put  them  into  the 
counsel's  hands,  and  bringing  voluntarily 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     149 

the  letters  which  prove  his  own  guilt.  Some 
go  so  far  as  to  help  the  suit  by  proposing  to 
write  under  dictation  the  statement  which 
is  necessary  to  fill  out  the  lawyer's  blanks. 
They  explain  the  doubtful  points,  tell  the 
precise  locality  where  the  offence  was  com- 
mitted, and  show  what  evidence  is  neces- 
sary to  remove  all  doubt. 

For  so  much  energy  in  behalf  of  truth 
they  impose  only  one  condition :  that  the 
woman  be  contented  with  the  divorce  with- 
out exacting  alimony.  Thus  they  recover 
their  liberty  and  keep  their  money.  It  is 
the  silence  of  witnesses  that  greatly  hinders 
the  action  of  justice,  as  is  proved  by  a  re- 
cent and  celebrated  suit,  in  which  the  corre- 
spondence of  the  guilty  wife  left  nothing  to 
be  desired.  The  husband  had  intercepted 
the  letters  addressed  to  her.  A  frivolous 
woman,  but  careful  and  methodical,  she  had 
kept  all  of  them,  and  the  evidence  was 
complete.  Day  after  day,  year  after  year, 
her  intrigues  and  adventures  of  all  kinds 
could  be  traced.  The  high  social  position 
of  her  husband  and  that  of  his  wife  made 
this  suit  much  talked  about.  The  result 
seemed  certain,  but  the  accused  denied 
everything,  asserting  that  the  letters  were  a 
trust  committed  to  her  by  a  friend  whose 
name  she  refused  to  give,  and  declaring  that 


OF  THE 
TTTSJ  TTT TTD 


150     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

she  was  ignorant  of  the  writer  of  the  letters. 
The  accomplices,  though  well  known,  pre- 
served the  same  silence.  Called  as  wit- 
nesses, they  swore  that  they  knew  nothing, 
and  that  they  did  not  recognise  the  writer ; 
so  that,  despite  the  evidence,  and  from  the 
absence  of  all  oral  testimony,  the  court  had 
to  acquit  the  guilty  and  to  refuse  a  di- 
vorce to  the  outraged  husband. 

Nothing  less  is  necessary,  in  short,  than 
undeniable  proof  in  order  to  triumph  over 
the  judges'  chivalrous  feeling  that,  notwith- 
standing all  her  mistakes  and  faults,  woman 
is  more  often  wronged  than  wrongful.  The 
same  judges  are  so  much  less  indulgent 
where  men  are  concerned  that  it  is  not 
surprising  that  adventuresses  succeed.  A 
proof  of  this  occurred  in  a  case  pending 
before  the  United  States  Court  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Brooklyn,  in  which  Mr.  Charles 

C had  to  defend  his  fortune  against 

the  intrigues  of  one  Leonora  Arnold.  She 
claimed  no  less  than  a  million  dollars,  and 
produced  in  support  of  her  claim  the  fol- 
lowing facts,  told  by  her  mother  : 

In  1855  there  lived  in  New  York  a  Mrs. 

C ,  a  widow,  who  had  two  sons, 

Charles  and  Blaise,  and  a  fortune  of  two 
millions.  Dying,  she  divided  the  fortune 
equally  between  her  two  children,  stipulat- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     151 

ing  that  in  the  case  of  one's  dying  without 
issue  his  share  should  fall  to  the  survivor. 
Blaise  died  first,  unmarried,  and  his  brother 
became  the  sole  possessor  of  the  fortune. 
At  this  point  the  claim  of  Leonora  Arnold 
was  put  forward,  based  upon  the  evidence 
of  her  mother,  Josephine  Cregier.  In  1854 
the  latter  said  that  she  had  made  the 
acquaintance  of  Blaise  C at  a  danc- 
ing school  where  young  men  and  women 
met  together  and  were  taught  by  a  mas- 
ter. Blaise  fell  in  love  with  her  and 
proposed  that  she  follow  him  to  Baltimore, 
where,  he  said,  he  would  marry  her.  Blaise 
was  young  and  in  love.  She  knew  that  he 
was  rich,  and  she  accepted  him.  They 
started,  travelling  leisurely,  staying  at  the 
same  hotels,  where  they  passed  for  young 
married  people,  and  finally  reaching  Balti- 
more, where  they  spent  several  weeks. 
There  was  no  longer  any  question  of  mar- 
riage. It  may  have  been  forgotten,  or 
perhaps  she  never  believed  there  would  be 
any  and  refrained  from  speaking  of  it,  but 
after  a  while  they  returned  to  New  York, 
and  in  1855  Leonora  was  born.  The  union 
was  not  a  happy  one.  Blaise  never  ac- 
knowledged it  and  never  even  spoke  of  it ; 
his  relatives  and  his  friends  ignored  the 
subject. 


152     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Abandoned  after  several  years  by  her 
lover,  Josephine  disappeared,  and  one  fine 
day  went  to  Charleston,  and  there  lived 
with  one  John  Jackson,  as  whose  wife 
she  passed.  She  followed  him  to  Nash- 
ville in  Tennessee,  and  later,  hearing  of 
Blaise's  death,  returned  to  New  York 
to  claim  in  her  daughter's  name  her 
rights  from  the  last  heir,  Mr.  Charles 

C ,    against    whom    she    brought    suit 

for  the  payment  of  the  million  dollars 
with  interest,  claiming  that  her  brief  stay 
in  Baltimore,  where  she  was  supposed  to  be 
Blaise's  wife,  was  in  itself  a  marriage  and 
made  her  child  legitimate.  Though  it  was 
the  large  amount  in  question  which  gave 
prominence  to  this  suit,  the  principle  is 
the  same.  From  her  own  testimony  the 
plaintiff  had  always  lived  in  a  questionable 
manner.  There  was  nothing — no  letter,  no 
document  of  any  kind — to  prove  that  Blaise 
had  ever  promised  to  marry  her  ;  nothing 
to  prove  that  she  had  demanded  marriage, 
either  at  the  time  or  afterward.  It  is  the 
commonplace  story  of  the  escapade  of  a  rich 
and  idle  young  man  and  of  an  unprincipled 
girl,  seduced  by  wealth.  But  public  opinion 
agreed  with  the  judge  that  he  was  the  guilty 
one,  for  he  had  led  her  astray.  If  he  was 
her  first  lover,  he  was  probably  the  cause  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     153 

her  having  a  second,  and  the  reason  why, 
having  once  turned  from  the  right  road,  she 
could  not  go  back  to  it.  If  the  laws  of 
Maryland,  in  which  State  Baltimore  is,  or 
the  law  of  any  one  of  the  States  through 
which  they  passed  together,  and  in  which 
they  were  taken  for  a  married  couple,  had 
admitted  that  this  fact  alone  constitutes 
a  valid  union,  Leonora  Arnold  would  be 
a  legitimate  child,  and  could  claim  the 

million  left  by  Blaise  C ,  and  to  which 

his  brother  was  the  apparent  heir. 

III. 

What  is  the  remedy  for  this  confusion  of 
laws,  which  results  in  a  confusion  of  morals  ; 
for  this  excessive  simplification  of  legis- 
lation relating  to  marriage,  which  leads 
to  a  multiplicity  of  divorces,  as  in  Con- 
necticut, where  there  is  one  divorce  for 
every  ten  marriages,  as  there  is  one  in  seven 
in  California  1 

The  most  efficacious  and  the  simplest  rem- 
edy without  a  doubt  would  be  to  substi- 
tute for  the  local  laws  which  are  passed 
in  the  different  States,  and  which  regulate 
in  each  the  conditions  for  marriage  and 
divorce,  a  single  Federal  law  common  to  all 
and  the  same  in  all.  This  was  done  in  a 


154     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

different  case  when  the  increase  of  business 
and  the  multiplicity  of  business  transactions 
caused  constant  trouble  as  to  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  different  States :  a  uniform  law  of 
bankruptcy  was  substituted  for  the  many 
contradictory  ones.  But  simple  as  this 
remedy  seems,  and  efficacious  as  it  might 
be,  it  is,  and  will  be,  impracticable.  The 
eighth  section  of  the  first  article  of  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  which  treats 
of  the  powers  of  Congress,  confers  no  right 
of  legislation  in  a  matter  regarding  which 
each  State  is  supreme.  In  order  to  grant 
this  right  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu- 
tion is  necessary,  to  be  voted  on  by  the  two 
Houses  of  Congress  and  ratified  by  the 
legislatures  of  three-fourths  of  the  States, — 
which  is  actually,  in  the  opinion  of  every 
intelligent  man,  an  impossibility.  Taken 
individually,  every  State  in  the  Union 
would  vote  in  favour  of  this  measure  if  she 
were  assured  that  her  own  local  regulations 
would  become  national,  and  that  her  laws 
on  the  subject  would  be  extended  to  all  the 
other  States  ;  but  apart  from  this  impos- 
sible case  not  one  will  have  her  right  re- 
moved to  legislate  at  her  own  free  will,  and 
in  accordance  with  her  own  interests.  Noth- 
ing shows  more  clearly  how  insurmountable 
is  this  difficulty  than  what  occurs  in  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     155 

State  of  New  York,  where  the  law  recognises 
only  one  cause  for  absolute  divorce — adul- 
tery, but  where  they  are  frequently  forced  to 
admit  other  reasons.  The  press  has  in  vain 
insisted  on  the  fact  that  a  husband's  infi- 
delity is  not  the  only  cause  which  can  make 
marriage  insupportable  to  a  wife  ;  that  there 
are  [others,  physical  and  moral,  which  are 
just  as  troublesome,  if  not  more  so.  The 
law  has  resisted  every  criticism,  arid  one 
could  no  more  obtain  the  consent  of  the 
State  of  New  York  to  admit  other  causes 
for  divorce  than  that  of  other  States  to  give 
up  one  or  two  of  the  ten  or  a  dozen  causes 
which  are  recognised  in  their  codes. 

Granted  the  impossibility  at  this  point  of 
proceeding  by  amending  the  .Constitution, 
one  sets  his  ingenuity  to  work  to  investigate 
the  difficulty,  and  thinks  he  has  found  in 
the  Constitution  itself  the  means  sought. 
The  tenth  section  of  the  first  article  stip- 
ulates that  no  State  can  u  enter  into  any 
treaty,  alliance,  or  confederation,  grant  let- 
ters of  marque  and  reprisal,  coin  money, 
emit  bills  of  credit,  make  anything  but  gold 
and  silver  coin  a  tender  in  payment  of  debts, 
.  .  .  or  pass  any  law  impairing  the  obligation 
of  contracts,  or  grant  any  title  of  nobility." 

Although  the  context  of  the  article  seems 
at  first  sight  to  avoid  all  connection  between 


156     THE  WOMEN  OF  TEE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  article  itself  and  the  question  of  mar- 
riage and  divorce  laws,  one  may  appeal  to 
the  fact  that  State  legislatures  are  forbid- 
den from  passing  any  "laws  which  impair 
a  contract,"  in  contesting  their  right  to 
legislate  on  the  question  of  marriage  and 
divorce,  which  is  of  a  contractual  nature. 
We  must  admit  that  by  this  clause,  inserted 
in  a  section  which  neither  directly  or  indi- 
rectly treats  of  the  question,  the  original 
legislators  might  have  intended  to  take 
away  from  the  States  and  reserve  .for  fed- 
eral power  alone  the  right  of  legislating  on 
the  question.  The  unreasonableness  of  the 
supposition  will  probably  make  this  view 
untenable,  but,  were  it  admitted,  at  the 
most  it  would  justify  the  passage  of  a  law 
declaring  valid  and  positive  in  every  State 
a  divorce  pronounced  by  one  of  them. 

This  alone  would  not  remove  the  existing 
complications,  although  it  would  be  a  step 
away  from  the  actual  state  of  things.  It  is 
likewise  proposed  to  reserve  equally  to  the 
Federal  courts  alone  the  right  of  hearing 
divorce  suits  in  all  cases  in  which  the  two 
parties  are  not  originally  from  the  same 
State.  This  measure  avoids  any  conflict 
of  jurisdiction  and  the  disagreeable  conse- 
quences resulting  from  a  divorce  granted  to 
one  of  the  parties  in  one  State  and  refused 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     157 

to  the  second  in  another,  valid  here  and 
invalid  elsewhere.  The  most  important 
point  to  be  regulated  is  the  actual  system  of 
"  notification  by  publication,"  rich  in  fraud 
and  in  evasion  of  the  law,  which  permits  one 
of  the  parties  to  claim  a  divorce  unknown 
to  the  second,  to  obtain  it  without  a  hearing 
from  the  interested  party,  so  that  for 
several  years  she  does  not  even  know  that 
it  has  been  granted.  These  cases  occur  fre- 
quently, and  one  often  meets  a  married 
woman  who  hears  by  accident,  and  a  long 
while  after,  that  her  husband  has  been 
divorced  from  her.  The  most  recent  of  these 
cases  is  the  following  : 

After  a  very  lively  dispute  between  a  cer- 
tain husband  and  wife,  caused  by  the  hus- 
band's conduct,  people  noticed  a  compara- 
tive tranquillity  existing  between  them. 
Both  were  anxious  to  avoid  a  scandal,  and 
so  they  decided  to  separate  amicably. 
With  a  sufficiently  large  sum  which  her 
husband  put  at  her  disposal  the  wife  left 
with  her  mother  for  a  long  European  trip. 
Shortly  after  her  departure  the  husband 
began  a  suit  for  divorce.  A  copy  of  the 
said  petition  and  of  the  allegations  made 
having  to  be  sent  to  his  wife,  it  was 
necessary  to  give  her  address.  He  did 
not  know  it,  he  said  ;  his  wife  was  abroad, 


158     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATE 8. 

and  was  not  stopping  for  any  length  of  time 
in  any  place  known  to  him.  Such  a  case  is 
foreseen  by  the  law.  The  judge  thereupon 
ordered  the  insertion  of  the  request  and  of 
the  forthcoming  decree  in  two  local  papers — 
one  a  special  and  legal  one,  read  by  lawyers 
alone ;  the  other  of  only  a  small  circulation 
outside  of  the  State.  The  necessary  time 
having  expired,  the  suit  was  heard.  The 
husband  alone  produced  evidence.  Ignorant 
of  what  was  going  on,  the  opposite  party 
was  not  represented,  and  the  divorce  was 
granted.  Eighteen  months  later,  upon  her 
return  to  the  United  States,  the  wife  was 
told  of  what  had  been  done.  Her  husband 
had  married  again,  and  her  place  had  been 
legally  filled  by  another. 

An  analogous  case  recently  took  place  in 
Kentucky.  In  the  absence  of  the  husband, 
whom  business  had  called  to  Australia,  his 
wife  demanded  and  obtained  a  divorce  on 
the  simple  allegation,  this  time,  that  she 
was  a  member  of  a  religious  order  which 
demanded  absolute  continency.  This  clause 
occurs  in  the  code  of  laws  in  Kentucky, 
which  are  more  rigorous  than  in  the  neigh- 
bouring States  so  far  as  concerns  marriage. 
A  young  girl  is  not  able  to  marry  there  be- 
fore the  age  of  twenty-one  without  the  con- 
sent of  her  parents.  From  this  fact,  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      159 

which  the  amorous  Kentucky  youths  sub- 
mit with  but  an  ill  grace,  arises  a  special 
business,  which  has  its  headquarters  at 
Jeffersonville,  a  city  on  the  border  of  the 
neighbouring  State  of  Indiana. 

The  following  announcement  appeared  in 
the  American  papers  of  January,  1889 : 
"For  sale,  at  Jeffersonville,  Ind.,  a  matri- 
monial bureau,  well  patronised.  The  situ- 
ation is  agreeable  and  easy,  allowing  pleasant 
acquaintances,  and  pleasing  to  a  young  and 
active  man.  Address  the  proprietor,  Wil- 
liam Kratz,  matrimonial  agent,  who  will 
guarantee  a  profit,  and  will  give  access  to  his 
accounts. "  Jeffersonville  is,  in  short,  the 
Gretna  Green  of  this  part  of  the  Union,  and 
William  Kratz  plays  the  role  of  the  legend- 
ary blacksmith.  Every  Thursday,  autumn 
and  winter,  every  day  in  spring  and  sum- 
mer, William  Kratz  is  at  the  wharf  of  the 
Louisville  steamers.  With  a  glance  of  the 
eye  he  takes  in  every  passenger,  and  quietly 
hands  out  his  card,  on  which  is  inscribed  : 
"  William  Kratz,  matrimonial  agent,  pro- 
cures for  those  desiring  marriage  all  neces- 
sary information  and  assistance."  "There 
is  nothing  easier,"  he  says,  "  than  to  recog- 
nise a  couple  who  are  in  love.  They  have 
a  way  of  descending  the  gangplank  and 
exchanging  tender  looks.  They  have  an 


160     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

embarrassed  manner,  as  though  seeking  in- 
formation which  they  dare  not  ask,  but  to 
which  they  listen  eagerly  when  I  give  it 
to  them.  It  sometimes  happens,  although 
rarely,  that  I  am  mistaken,  and  speak  to 
couples  who  are  thinking  of  anything  ex- 
cept marriage,  but  I  never  complain  of  their 
manners.  The  young  men  laugh  and  the 
young  women  blush.  I  can  mention  some 
who  return  for  good  cause,  and  so  be- 
come my  clients."*  Mr.  Kratz  thinks  that 
an  elopement  in  Kentucky,  followed  by 
a  marriage  in  Jeffersonville,  would  cost 
exactly  $9.20,  or  46  francs — 1  franc  for 
the  journey,  10  francs  for  the  permit  (19 
francs  50  when  one  wishes  it  "  gilt-edged," 
with  certification),  25  francs  for  the  law- 
yer, and  10  francs  for  the  agent.  "  For 
this  price  these  affairs  are  comfortably  ar- 
ranged," Mr.  Kratz  adds ;  but  these  prices 
may  be  reduced.  A  reduction  may  be 
obtained  from  the  lawyer,  and  the  agent 
may  be  contented  with  five  francs  if  one 
promises  to  entertain  him  on  his  next  visit 
to  Kentucky.  This  is  what  Mr.  Kratz  gives 
us  to  understand  in  speaking  of  "  pleasant 
acquaintances."  Why  is  Thursday  the  best 
day  of  the  week  ?  This  he  did  not  tell  us, 

*  Louisville  Journal,  January  19,  1889. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     161 

but  lie  said  so,  and  we  can  believe  him. 
"Every  Thursday,"  he  said,  "  I  have  much 
to  do,  and  you  do  not  know  all  that  my 
agency  does  for  Jeffersonville.  It  is  a  true 
blessing  for  the  ferries,  for  restaurants, 
lawyers,  and  hotel  men."  Mr.  Kratz  is 
convinced  that  he  is  a  benefactor  of  man- 
kind, and  that  his  paid  intervention,  which, 
after  all,  brings  about  a  legal  marriage, 
ought  to  be  encouraged. 

That  which  is  more  surprising  is  that  a 
man  can  openly  brave  the  law  of  the  State 
in  which  he  lives,  and  that  to  do  it  with  im- 
punity costs  him  only  three  cents  (fifteen 
centimes).  This  case  happens  not  once,  but 
a  hundred  times.  Mrs.  Smith  had  serious 
reasons  for  suspecting  her  husband.  Hav- 
ing discovered  him  en  flagrant  delit,  she 
sought  a  divorce  before  the  court  of  New 
York,  and  obtained  it,  with  a  decree  for- 
bidding him  to  marry  a  second  time.  It 
cost  Mr.  Smith  only  the  small  sum  stated 
above  to  cross  the  river  to  the  neighbouring 
State  of  New  Jersey,  and  there  contract 
legally  another  marriage.  This  done,  he 
returned  to  New  York  and  busied  himself 
with  his  own  affairs.  On  one  side  of  the 
Hudson  River  he  is  divorced,  on  the  other 
side  he  is  married.  In  New  York  his  second 
wife  is  only  his  mistress  ;  on  the  other  side 


162     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

she  is  his  legitimate  wife  ;  a  bigamist  here, 
he  has  there  acted  with  perfect  legality. 

The  case  of  Isabella  Davis  is  more  compli- 
cated. For  fifteen  years  married  to  Amos 
Johnson,  she  married  in  succession  R.  Mac- 
Lane,  Abram  Elmore,  Paul  Hatton,  William 
Ferguson,  and  Samuel  Nickson.  They  wore 
all  alive  at  the  same  time  and  living  in  dif- 
ferent States  without  being  divorced  from 
her.  For  the  time  being,  and  while  waiting 
for  something  better,  she  passed  for  the  wife 
of  Samuel  Nickson,  with  whom  she  lived  in 
North  Carolina.  The  other  five  husbands 
put  in  a  claim  for  thejr  wife  or  their  liberty, 
and  the  suit  was  pending  before  five  distinct 
courts. 

If  one  enters  into  the  study  of  the  divorce 
laws  in  the  forty-four  States  of  the  Union, 
one  finds  himself  in  the  midst  of  an  inextri- 
cable maze  of  causes  and  limitations  from 
which  are  deduced,  not  without  some  trou- 
ble, sixteen  principal  ones  which  are  gener- 
ally recognised.  Some  States,  like  New 
York,  recognise  only  one,  others  as  many  as 
ten  ;  but  no  two  of  them  have  decreed  quite 
the  same  ones. 

The  sixteen  causes  are :  adultery,  bigamy, 
voluntary  desertion,  the  time  of  which  varies 
according  to  locality,  continued  absence  for 
five  years,  the  husband's  living  with  a  col- 


/ 

I  tJN 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      163 

oured  woman,  madness  or  imbecility,  assault 
and  battery,  being  a  vagabond,  serious  in- 
juries, imprisonment  for  crime,  habitual 
drunkenness  or  the  use  of  opium,  impotence, 
refusal  of  the  wife  to  live  with  her  husband, 
refusal  of  the  husband  to  support  his  wife, 
misconduct,  joining  a  religious  sect  which 
prescribes  continence. 

To  these  numerous  causes  several  States 
have  added  a  clause  that  is  more  indefinite, 
more  elastic,  by  which  the  door  already  ajar 
is  still  more  widely  opened  to  the  two  par- 
ties, in  leaving  to  the  courts  the  right  to 
grant  divorces  at  their  own  discretion.  From 
these  facts  we  see  what  a  careless  legisla- 
ture, composed  of  representatives  who  obey 
local  prejudices  and  the  capricious  demands 
of  a  people  who  are  often  but  little  enlight- 
ened, can  do  in  the  United  States  regarding 
the  institution  of  marriage,  by  all  held 
sacred  and  considered  by  the  founders  of  the 
Republic  as  one  of  the  indestructible  pillars 
of  the  social  organisation.  This  confusion, 
sanctioned  by  the  laws,  is  in  strange  con- 
trast to  the  moral  and  religious  theory  which 
holds  marriage  to  be  immutable,  with  its  ap- 
parent professed  respect  for  the  marriage  tie 
and  the  solemn  ritual  which  binds  and  sanc- 
tifies it.  The  contradiction  lies  between  the 
point  of  departure  and  the  point  attained  ; 


164     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

between  that  which  we  wish  and  the  results 
which  we  secure.  It  is  much  more  notice- 
able if  we  observe  to  what  consequences  un- 
swerving logic  can  lead  misguided  spirits, 
even  when  acting  in  good  faith. 

In  the  face  of  the  weakness  of  the  laws,  and 
the  dire  confusion  in  the  midst  of  which  men 
struggle  in  vain,  arises  negation,  the  radical 
solution,  destroying  past  traditions,  sweep- 
ing away  useless  laws  and  unobserved  enact- 
ments, in  order  to  give  on  the  one  hand  free 
play  to  human  passions,  and  on  the  other  to 
substitute  rigorous  and  immutable  limita- 
tions for  shifting  and  ineffective  legislation. 
Some,  like  the  Shakers,  profess  absolute 
continence,  advocates  of  superhuman  and  de- 
structive virtues  ;  others,  like  the  Mormons, 
return  to  ancient  traditions,  to  polygamy 
and  rapid  procreation  ;  still  others  preach 
Free  Love.  All  of  these  rally  partisans  and 
recruit  followers.  What  more  favourable 
statute  for  Free  Love  can  one  make  than  the 
actual  divorce  law  of  Indiana,  which  frees 
the  husband  from  the  duty  of  supporting  his 
wife  from  whom  he  separates  without  emo- 
tion and  without  reason,  and  whom  he  leaves 
to  the  mercy  of  chance.  Mormon  polygamy 
at  least  obliges  the  husband  to  look  after 
the  needs  of  his  harem,  and  to  support  his 
wife  and  children.  What  would  marriage 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     165 

be  in  the  United  States  if  it  were  set  aside  by 
a  hostile  press,  if  it  were  assailed  by  all  anti- 
religious  and  anti-social  literature,  and  by  the 
teachings  of  anarchists  impatient  to  destroy 
that  which  exists,  with  nothing  but  unfet- 
tered lust  and  brutal  instinct  to  offer  as  substi- 
tutes ?  How  much  more  to  be  opposed  would 
the  present  state  of  things  be,  how  much  more 
justified  the  fears  that  we  have  expressed ! 
The  situation  as  it  is  revealed  to  the  ob- 
server's eyes  is  serious,  and  if  the  cause  is 
not  yet  lost,  the  results  on  which  the  Amer- 
icans flatter  themselves  are  at  least  compro- 
mised. To  a  period  of  moral  and  intellectual 
development,  and  of  prosperity  without 
precedent,  a  season  of  confusion  and  uncer- 
tainty has  succeeded.  Doubts  have  arisen 
in  the  presence  of  the  results  already  at- 
tained, as  to  the  excellence  of  their  institu- 
tions. They  ask  themselves  if  some  mis- 
take has  not  been  made  when  they  see  the 
cult  of  woman  and  the  exaggerated  respect 
paid  to  her  resulting  in  such  unexpected 
consequences. 

Unexpected  they  are ;  and  if  the  states- 
men, the  lawyers,  the  thinkers,  and  the 
philosophers  of  the  United  States  have  never 
professed  to  suppress  vice  and  to  make  vir- 
tue supreme  in  the  land,  at  least  they  have 
wished  to  establish  a  social  system  superior 


166     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

to  that  of  Europe,  to  profit  from  the  lessons 
of  the  past ;  and  during  more  than  half  a 
century  the  facts  have  justified  their  hopes. 
The  disappointment  is  only  the  more  bitter 
in  seeing  the  same  instincts  tending  to  the 
same  results,  and  in  having  pessimists  affirm 
once  more  that  virtue  is  a  purely  human 
institution,  while  passion  is  a  divine  one, 
and  that  the  existing  social  organisation  is 
powerless. 

Better  results  were  expected  from  the 
Constitution  than  it  has  given.  Men  saw  in 
it  a  universal  panacea,  the  reconciliation  of 
every  man's  rights  and  duties  ;  and  as  for 
woman,  her  recognition  and  her  freedom. 
We  cannot  justly  deny  that  the  great  Repub- 
lic has  striven  with  every  effort  toward  this 
result,  and  that  for  the  moment  she  appears 
to  have  reached  it.  If  it  is  slipping  from 
her,  the  fault  is  not  wholly  hers,  and  already 
she  returns  undismayed  to  find  out  new 
paths  that  she  can  follow  toward  the  end 
that  she  aspires  to  attain. 

IY. 

It  is,  indeed,  time,  for  the  evil  is  increas- 
ing. Powerless  to  remedy  it,  the  marriage 
and  divorce  laws  only  aggravate  it  by  their 
very  multiplicity  and  incoherence.  In  as- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     167 

similating  them  to  a  single  type,  in  elim- 
inating enactments  suggested  by  a  solicitude 
more  zealous  than  intelligent,  one  may  hope 
to  limit,  if  not  to  suppress,  the  abuses  which 
they  sanction ;  but  what  a  reform  of  this 
nature  does  not  of  itself  know  how  to  check, 
is  the  spread  of  false  ideas  and  a  moral 
confusion,  long  delayed  by  the  simple  and 
healthful  life  of  the  first  colonists,  by  their 
being  scattered  over  a  sparsely  popu- 
lated continent,  by  the  relative  isolation  of 
their  lives,  by  their  general  comfort,  and  by 
the  fact  that  luxury  and  poverty  were 
equally  unknown.  The  sudden  change 
which  induced  foreign  imigration  and  re- 
cruited a  working  army  among  the  ranks  of 
an  agricultural  population ;  which  every- 
where called  into  being  great  factories  and 
industrial  centres  ;  and  which  substituted 
enormous  fortunes  and  great  distress  in  place 
of  a  limited  but  general  comfort,  brought 
about  at  the  same  time  a  series  of  social 
phenomena.  The  same  causes  have  at  last 
produced  the  same  effects  as  in  Europe — the 
agglomeration  of  the  working  classes,  the 
hatred  of  wealth,  the  threatening  socialism, 
a  desperate  battle  for  existence,  the  rule  of 
money,  bitter  competition,  and,  as  a  conse- 
quence of  all  this,  the  subjection,  or  even  the 
degradation  of  woman,  who,  unable  to  do 


168     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

battle,  is  stripped  of  her  former  sanctity 
and  made  subject  to  man's  beck  and  call. 
Nothing  can  be  a  better  proof  of  how  far 
social  phenomena  are  independent  of  any 
political  system,  and  of  the  illusions  into 
which  one  is  beguiled,  so  that  he  thinks 
them  realities,  in  attributing  a  magical  vir- 
tue to  one  or  another  form  of  government, 
according  to  his  personal  preferences. 

Democracy  is  of  no  more  avail  than  abso- 
lute power  in  sheltering  itself  from  evils 
of  which  neither  system  is  the  cause  and 
which  neither  is  able  to  remedy.  Where 
less  than  in  the  United  States  does  it  seem  as 
though  the  leprosy  of  prostitution  could  be 
propagated  and  spread,  against  which  every- 
thing seemed  to  unite  at  the  very  start  in 
guarding  the  young  Republic  ?  How  many 
other  barriers  have  since  been  added  to  the 
original  religious  and  moral  safeguards ! 
How  much  energy  is  devoted  to  strangling 
the  evil  at  its  birth,  to  checking  it  and  cir- 
cumscribing it,  to  opening  to  woman  new 
paths,  and  to  assuring  her  independence  by 
offering  remunerative  employment  to  her  in- 
telligence and  to  her  work  !  American  de- 
mocracy was  the  first  to  give  woman  access 
to  various  administrative  and  public  func- 
tions, and  to  assert  for  her  an  equal  right 
with  man  in  the  so-called  liberal  professions. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      169 

So,  too,  this  democracy  took  the  initiative 
in  granting  her  the  right  to  vote  in  certain 
cases,  and  the  day  is  drawing  near  when  this 
right,  more  widely  known,  will  permit  her 
to  enlarge  her  circle  of  influence.  Surely 
we  should  not  reproach  the  American  legis- 
lators for  having  quite  unconsciously  accel- 
erated the  progress  of  an  evil  which  they 
have  done  everything  to  banish,  any  more 
than  we  can  censure  public  opinion  for 
having  been  indifferent  to  it. 

Private  effort  also  has  effectively  la- 
boured in  the  cause  of  social  purity,  and 
we  see  noble  women,  honoured  by  the  poor 
of  New  York,  who  have  spent  millions  to 
aid  their  lost  sisters,  and  who  have  founded 
homes  of  refuge  for  young  girls,  and  spread, 
even  to  the  most  distant  parts  of  the  Union, 
the  benefits  of  their  inexhaustible  charity. 

It  is  at  the  centre  and  at  the  two  extremes 
that  the  social  evil  chiefly  flourishes  :  in 
large  cities,  like  New  York,  where  there  are 
no  less  than  thirty  thousand  prostitutes ; 
in  the  great  industrial  centres,  like  Chicago, 
and  in  distant  localities  beyond  the  con- 
fines of  civilisation  and  legislation,  swarm- 
ing with  adventurers,  with  desperadoes 
and  cowboys,  who  voluntarily  live  a  lawless 
life,  and  give  free  play  to  their  drunken 
desires,  their  brutal  instincts,  and  their 


170     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

savage  passions.  Here  is  a  world  apart  and 
little  known,  wholly  foreign  to  our  European 
manners  and  customs.  From  time  to  time 
a  series  of  murders,  bloody  orgies,  or  fright- 
ful deeds  of  vengeance  recall  its  existence 
and  raise  a  corner  of  the  veil  which  hides  it, 
and  then  silence  again  falls ;  its  isolation, 
its  remoteness,  and  the  unsocial  humour  of 
its  inhabitants  baffle  curiosity  and  defy 
control. 

This  society  is  waiting  for  its  historian, 
for  a  Fenimore  Cooper  and  Bret  Harte  in 
one  ;  and,  as  a  fact,  it  is  well  worth  the 
labour  of  description.  From  the  part  which 
woman  plays  in  it,  it  falls  within  the  scope 
of  our  present  work.  In  a  few  years 
it  will  have  disappeared,  the  flood  of  civi- 
lisation will  have  submerged  it,  and  from 
these  strange  types  legends  will  have  sprung 
into  existence. 

Who  will  then  believe  the  astonishing 
adventures  of  Belle  Starr,  the  idol  of  the 
Western  bandits,  a  living  defiance  of  the 
law,  incarnating  in  herself  the  audacity,  the 
vices  and  the  intrepid  courage  of  these  out- 
laws who,  from  father  to  son,  boast  of 
"  dying  in  their  boots,"  knife  and  revolver 
in  hand,  as  she  herself  did  on  the  3d  of 
February,  1889,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five, 
after  the  strangest  existence  imaginable, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     171 

leaving  a  son  and  a  daughter  who  have  fol- 
lowed in  her  footsteps  ?  From  detached 
fragments  of  her  diary  (for  Belle  Starr  had 
received  the  education  of  every  Western 
girl),  we  are  able  to  reconstruct  her  ad- 
venturous career,  incomprehensible  in  our 
world,  and  impossible  anywhere  else  than 
in  America. 

Belle  Starr  was  born  at  Carthage  in  the 
State  of  Missouri.  Her  father,  chief  of  the 
Southern  guerrillas,  took  an  active  part  in 
the  War  of  Secession  ;  and  from  infancy 
Belle  Starr  showed  a  passion  for  blows,  for 
acts  of  violence,  for  the  pillage  and  the 
murder  of  that  bloody  period.  After  the 
war  her  father  emigrated  to  Kansas  with 
what  was  left  of  his  band.  She  went  there 
with  him.  An  intrepid  Amazon,  from  the 
time  that  she  was  ten  years  old  she  handled 
the  revolver,  the  lasso,  the  carbine,  and  the 
bowie-knife.  A  girl  brought  up  by  rough 
companions,  by  men  expert  in  these  matters, 
she  showed  the  enthusiastic  boldness  and 
the  courage  of  a  child.  In  such  a  school 
she  developed  rapidly.  Hatred  rankled  in 
these  fierce  spirits — the  hatred  of  the  con- 
quered for  their  conquerors,  the  hatred  of  ad- 
venturers and  rebels  against  order,  law,  and 
social  regulation.  Having  revolted  against 
the  North,  they  continued  in  revolt  against 


172     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

everything  that  personified  the  North  ;  they 
shut  themselves  up  in  the  solitudes,  whence, 
like  wolves,  they  came  out  only  to  make 
their  presence  known  by  some  brutal  defi- 
ance of  the  civilisation  they  hated,  by  some 
act  of  brigandage  in  which  they  took  part 
often  at  the  loss  of  life.  Belle  Starr  was 
not  the  least  bold  or  the  least  daring  of 
them,  and  hardly  had  she  passed  from 
infancy  before  her  name,  her  boldness,  and 
her  beauty  were  celebrated  from  the  borders 
of  Arkansas  to  those  of  the  Platte  River. 
Precocious  in  all  things,  she  fell  in  love  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  with  Bob  Younger,  a 
famous  bandit.  Her  father  refused  his  con- 
sent to  their  marriage,  so  she  made  him 
elope  with  her,  and  married  him  on  horse- 
back, surrounded  by  a  score  of  desperadoes. 
One  of  them,  John  Fisher,  on  whose  head  a 
price  had  been  set,  held  the  bride  upon  her 
horse,  while  a  judge  more  dead  than  alive 
was  roused  from  his  house  in  the  middle  of 
the  night  to  marry  them.  Three  weeks  later 
Bob  Younger,  pursued  by  the  law,  had  to 
flee,  and  Belle  Starr  returned  to  her  father. 
In  the  hope  of  baffling  the  search  made  for 
her  by  her  fugitive  husband  the  father  put 
her  in  a  boarding  school  in  Parker  County  ; 
but  Bob  Younger  was  not  long  in  making 
his  appearance.  He  again  ran  off  with  her 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     173 

and  gained  the  borders  of  Missouri ;  but, 
tracked  by  the  officers  of  the  law,  he  was 
forced  to  return  to  Kansas.  From  that 
moment,  as  his  companion,  she  lived  only 
as  he  did,  by  robbery  and  rapine.  Dressed 
as  a  man,  she  rode  by  his  side,  followed  by 
desperadoes  whom  she  subdued  by  her 
bravery  and  captivated  by  her  charms.  To- 
gether they  pillaged  isolated  farms,  carried 
away  horses  and  cattle,  which  they  sold  in 
distant  towns,  burned  the  houses  of  those 
who  denounced  them,  cutting  off  by  their 
Indian  cunning  the  pursuit  of  the  troops, 
or,  when  driven  into  a  corner,  facing  about, 
and  fiercely  engaging  in  battle.  Close 
pressed  by  a  detachment  of  United  States 
soldiers,  Bob  Younger  was  compelled  once 
more  to  take  to  flight.  Belle  Starr  did  not 
follow  him,  but  gave  him  a  successor, 
choosing  as  her  lover  James  Eeed,  a  worthy 
bandit,  whose  skill  was  proverbial.  With 
him  she  went  to  Texas,  which  they  travelled 
over  in  every  sense  of  the  word,  stopping  to 
plunder  stages,  and  pushing  their  boldness 
as  far  as  to  rob  the  Federal  courier  in  day- 
light at  the  very  gates  of  the  city  of  Austin. 
Belle  herself  in  her  memoirs  relates  one  of 
their  boldest  strokes  : 

"  We  arrived,"  she  writes,  "Reed  and  I, 
at  Eufaula,  where  by  chance  we  met  one  of 


174     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Heed's  friends,  Tom  Roberts,  at  the  hotel. 
He  spoke  to  us  of  a  man  named  Wat  Grey- 
son,  who  lived  on  a  lonely  farm.  He  was 
said  to  be  rich,  and  also  to  have  in  his  pos- 
session funds  intended  for  the  Indian  tribes. 
We  decided  to  put  them  into  circulation,  so 
at  nightfall,  armed  to  the  teeth  and  pro- 
vided with  fresh  horses,  we  knocked  at  his 
door.  Disguised  as  a  young  Cherokee  In- 
dian, I  introduced  myself  as  a  poor  wander- 
ing boy  who  asked  hospitality.  The  door 
was  immediately  opened  and  I  entered, 
quickly  followed  by  Reed  and  Roberts.  To 
seize  the  Indian  servant  who  had  opened 
the  door,  and  to  bind  him,  was  the  work  of 
an  instant.  In  the  next  room  was  Mrs. 
Greyson,  who  began  to  cry  as  soon  as  she 
saw  us,  screaming  loudly  for  help.  I  ap- 
proached her  bed,  placed  my  revolver  on  her 
forehead,  and  said  :  4  One  word  more  and 
I  will  blow  your  brains  out. ' '  She  was  silent, 
but  at  her  cries  a  young  man  ran  up.  Just 
as  he  crossed  the  threshold  Reed  laid  him 
low  with  a  single  blow.  He  rolled  on  the 
floor  like  a  slaughtered  ox. 

"  Awakened  by  the  noise,  Wat  Greyson 
entered  ;  but  in  the  face  of  our  three  revolvers 
he  could  make  no  resistance.  We  called 
upon  him  to  tell  us  where  the  money  was, 
but  he  refused.  Bent  on  forcing  him  to  do  it, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     175 

we  resolved  to  try  hanging  first,  and  while 
my  two  companions  held  him  I  looked  about 
and  found  a  strong  cord,  with  which  I  tied 
his  feet,  and  passed  a  loop  around  his  neck. 
This  done,  we  hoisted  him  to  the  branch  of 
an  oak  ;  he  began  to  strangle,  and  signed  to 
us  to  take  him  down.  Thereupon  he  showed 
us  his  hiding  place,  pointing  out  the  table 
in  the  centre  of  the  room,  and  under  a  wolf- 
skin rug  a  trap-door.  We  raised  it,  and  I 
discovered  a  ladder  leading  down  into  a 
cellar.  I  descended,  Roberts  accompanying 
me  with  a  lantern,  while  Reed  took  care  of 
the  old  man,  who  was  half  dead.  At  once 
I  discovered  two  boxes  full  of  gold  pieces. 
The  second  time  I  came  up  with  an  old 
kettle  also  filled  with  gold,  and  on  the  third 
trip  I  brought  up  three  bundles  of  bank- 
notes, thirty-four  thousand  dollars  in  all. 
Then  we  untied  the  old  man,  but,  maddened 
by  the  loss  of  his  money,  he  took  the  cord, 
passed  it  about  his  neck,  and  said  :  '  Hang 
me  now ;  I  am  ruined.'  His  death  would 
have  been  no  advantage  to  us,  and  we  left 
him.  The  next  day  we  gave  Roberts  his 
share,  and,  well  knowing  that  the  affair 
would  cause  some  talk,  we  agreed  to  return 
to  Texas.  It  was  just  in  time.  In  crossing 
the  Red  River,  the  first  thing  we  saw  was  a 
placard  pasted  on  a  tree,  with  these  words : 


176     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 

6  Seventeen  thousand  dollars  reward  for 
James  Reed,  alive  or  dead.'  They  were  on 
our  track  ;  to  balk  those  who  followed  us  we 
separated,  making  Texas  the  rendezvous.'' 
Belle  Starr  changed  her  costume  for  that 
of  a  young  farmer.  Wearied  by  a  long 
horseback  ride,  and  weighed  down  by  the 
weight  of  gold  hidden  in  a  chamois-skin  belt 
which  she  wore,  she  reached  with  difficulty 
the  town  of  Bonham.  There  she  went  to  an 
inn  and  ordered  supper,  deciding  to  start  out 
again  that  evening  and  travel  all  night. 
Meanwhile  she  fell  asleep  by  the  corner  of 
the  fireside,  but  suddenly  a  storm  arose  and 
wakened  her,  and  there  before  her,  sitting 
at  the  table  $  Jiote,  the  first  person  she  saw  was 
Judge  Thurman,  whom  she  knew  by  sight. 
He  did  not  recognise  her  in  her  borrowed 
clothes,  but  during  the  entire  meal  the  judge 
and  his  friends  talked  of  nothing  but  the 
robbery  that  had  been  done  to  Wat  Grey  son, 
of  James  Reed,  and  of  Belle  Starr,  who  her- 
self took  part  in  the  conversation.  In  vain 
the  nervous  innkeeper  begged  them  to  talk 
of  something  else.  "Who  knows  if  the 
walls  have  not  ears  ?  The  vengeance  of  Belle 
Starr  and  her  companions  is  implacable." 
They  did  not  heed  him,  and  passed  the 
evening  in  predicting  the  certain  capture  of 
the  fugitive.  They  were  on  her  track  ;  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     177 

judge  knew  her,  and  he  would  expose  her  if 
he  met  her.  Careful  not  to  arouse  suspicion 
by  leaving  the  inn  in  so  heavy  a  rain,  Belle 
Starr  gave  up  all  thought  of  continuing  her 
journey;  but  the  hotel  was  full,  the  landlord 
said  ;  beds  were  wanting,  and  the  host  sug- 
gested that  Judge  Thurman,  who  was  very 
large,  and  the  young  farmer,  who  was  slen- 
der and  small,  room  together.  Both  agreed 
to  this  plan,  Belle  Starr  with  the  most 
perfect  indifference,  and  the  night  passed 
without  the  judge's  having  a  shadow  of 
suspicion. 

At  daybreak  he  was  roused  by  the  land- 
lord, who  said  that  the  young  man  was 
about  to  leave  and  wanted  to  see  him  down- 
stairs ;  he  had  something  to  tell  him  about 
Belle  Starr.  The  judge  dressed  hurriedly, 
went  down,  and  found  the  farmer  equipped 
for  riding. 

"  You  are  leaving  early,  young  man." 

"  At  once.' ' 

"And  do  you  know  where  Belle  Starr 
is?" 

"  Perfectly.  Come  near  and  look  at  me 
closely.  I  am  Belle  Starr,  and  you — you 
are  an  old  fool !  Last  evening  you  said  you 
would  know  me,  no  matter  where  or  under 
what  disguise  ;  and  you  have  eaten  with  me, 
roomed  with  me,  and  suspected  nothing. 


178     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Dallas  County  should  be  proud  of  such  a 
sharp-sighted  judge.  Go  and  boast  of  your 
knowledge,  and  take  this  to  remember  me 
by,"  she  added,  slashing  his  cheek  with  a 
vigorous  blow  of  her  whip  as  she  put  spurs 
to  her  horse.  Belle  Starr  understood  rid- 
ing, and  no  one  could  overtake  her. 

Her  adventures  would  fill  a  volume.  Dis- 
covered at  Younger  Bend,  where  her  retreat 
was  made  known,  she  escaped  and  reached 
San  Diego,  in  southern  California,  alone  and 
on  horseback.  Weary  of  her  wandering 
life,  she  tasted  there  the  charms  of  rest  for  a 
few  months,  but  her  love  of  adventure  once 
more  returned. 

"  I  tried  in  vain  to  settle  down  to  this  new 
life,"  she  says  in  her  manuscript.  "The 
^  remembrance  of  my  past  life  haunted  me. 
I  fhirsted  for  freedom,  for  movement  and 
action.  For  a  time  I  fought  against  these 
feelings,  but  at  length  I  yielded  to  an 
impulse  that  drove  me  on.  I  read  one  day 
in  the  local  paper  that  some  races  were  to 
take  place  at  Oakland — races  for  men  and 
women.  I  wanted  to  go  and  try  for  the  two 
prizes  offered.  I  bought  for  $175  a  superb 
black  horse,  which  they  let  me  have  for  this 
price  as  no  one  else  dared  to  ride  it,  and  I 
started  for  Oakland.  It  was  while  making 
this  purchase  that  I  met  Charlie  Boyd,  then 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     179 

well  known  in  San  Francisco.  He  went 
with  me." 

"  4  You  have  no  idea  of  competing  for  the 
two  prizes/  he  said  to  me  the  evening  before 
the  race.  I  said  yes,  and  asked  him  to  get 
a  closed  carriage  for  me,  so  that  I  could 
change  my  costume  without  being  seen.  He 
did  so,  and  I  entered  the  track  in  the  garb 
of  a  Mexican  caballero,  with  long  mous- 
taches and  a  wide  sombrero  with  a  gold 
cord.  At  the  given  signal  fourteen  compet- 
itors presented  themselves,  but  I  alone  at- 
tracted attention.  The  spirited  behaviour 
of  my  horse  and  the  boldness  with  which  I 
managed  him  provoked  shouts ;  everyone 
asked  who  the  young  Mexican  was.  I  won 
the  race,  which  was  strongly  disputed  by  a 
gray-haired  Calif ornian,  an  intrepid  rider. 
He  told  me  his  name  was  William  Carleton, 
and  asked  me  mine ;  I  said  that  I  was 
William  Lee  of  Loredo." 

The  race  over,  she  slipped  away  and 
reached  her  cart,  and  reappeared  in  the 
dress  of  a  woman,  an  Indian  vest  embroi- 
dered in  silver,  and  in  this  new  costume  held 
the  attention  of  all.  On  the  same  black 
horse  she  won  this  race  without  striking  a 
blow. 

"  They  all  surrounded  me,  crowding  about 
me,  and  congratulated  me,  overwhelming 


180     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

me  with  compliments,  but  none  was  so  ur- 
gent as  William  Carleton.  In  love  with  me 
at  first  sight,  he  asked  me  to  marry  him. 
I  escaped  as  well  as  I  could  from  his  atten- 
tions, rejoined  Charlie  and  the  carriage,  put 
on  my  first  costume,  and  then  left.  No  one 
for  an  instant  suspected  that  the  winners  of 
the  two  races  were  one  and  the  same,  Belle 
Starr.' ' 

She  returned  to  Texas  again,  and,  being 
short  of  money,  procured  some  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  State  by  "  holding  up,"  with 
the  aid  of  James  Reed,  who  had  rejoined 
her,  the  stage-coach  from  San  Antonio, 
which  was  carrying  to  the  city  the  sum 
of  $3000  for  the  government.  They  drained 
the  travellers'  pockets,  and  found  $2150  ; 
but  after  this  last  exploit  she  was  dis- 
covered with  her  companion  while  they 
were  supping  at  an  inn.  She  succeeded, 
however,  in  escaping,  although  wounded ; 
bat  James  Reed,  less  fortunate,  was  killed 
after  a  desperate  resistance. 

Belle  Starr  had  many  lovers  among  the 
desperadoes  and  outlaws  of  Texas,  Kansas, 
Nebraska,  and  Nevada.  Left  a  widow  by 
Reed,  she  married  Sand,  son  of  a  Cherokee 
Indian,  whom  she  soon  left  after  an  ex- 
pedition in  which  he  was  stupid  enough  to 
be  caught.  Belle  thought  little  of  stupid- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     181 

ity,  and  Sand  had  lost  all  prestige  in  her 
eyes.  She  then  chose  John  Middleton  and 
resumed  with  him  her  life  of  adventures  ; 
but,  tracked  by  the  police,  Middleton  tried 
to  cross  the  Potomac  River  and  was 
drowned.  Then  she  married  one  Jim,  a 
cousin  of  her  third  husband,  and  at  last 
died,  killed  on  the  borders  of  Canada  in  an 
ambuscade.  It  was  the  death  for  which  she 
had  hoped,  always  having  had,  she  said,  a 
horror  of  dying  in  bed. 

Strange  as  such  a  life  may  appear,  and 
full  as  it  is  of  wild  incidents,  of  violent 
and  brutal  scenes  and  bizarre  adventures, 
it  is  no  more  extraordinary  or  strange 
than  that  of  many  others.  Amid  peculiar 
surroundings,  in  the  midst  of  rebels  against 
society,  she  brought  into  relief  some  of 
the  characteristic  and  salient  traits  of  her 
race,  traits  exaggerated,  but  otherwise  ex- 
isting as  latent  germs.  Belle  Starr  is  in 
some  respects  the  descendant  of  the  settlers, 
of  the  frontier  women,  as  intrepid  as  men, 
and  as  ready  as  they  to  fight  the  Indian  or 
to  use  his  stratagems.  The  .type  of  another 
age,  led  astray  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
with  a  brain  confused  by  the  surroundings 
in  which  her  youth  was  spent,  at  war  with 
humanity,  civilisation,  and  laws,  she  still 
proved  the  superiority  of  woman  among  the 


182     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

outlaws  who  surrounded  and  followed  her, 
obeying  her  wishes,  deferential  to  her  sex, 
subjugated  by  her  audacity  and  beauty. 
Among  other  surroundings,  in  a  different 
place,  we  shall  find,  though  to  a  much  less 
degree,  and  softened  by  education  and  civ- 
ilisation, a  love  of  independence,  romantic 
tastes,  a  desire  to  rule,  and  a  disdain,  now 
concealed,  of  social  conditions. 

The  study  of  some  types  of  women  in 
this  curious  American  world  will  allow  us 
to  discover,  apart  from  exaggerations  of 
the  hereditary  instincts,  favoured  or  re- 
pressed by  circumstances,  the  actual  tend- 
encies of  the  modern  American  woman, 
refined  by  nature  and  surroundings,  yet 
utterly  unlike  the  European,  from  whom  she 
is  separated  by  a  whole  world  of  ideas,  of 
instincts,  and  of  traditions — a  wider  and 
deeper  barrier  than  the  ocean  which  rolls 
between  the  two  worlds,  and  is  obliterated 
by  the  steamers  which  now  cross  it  in  a 
few  days. 


CHAPTER  IY. 

Money  in  American  Society — Adaptability  of  the  American 
Woman — Her  Qualities  and  Her  Defects — Various 
Types — Elizabeth  Patterson — American  Critics  of 
American  Women — The  American  Woman  of  To-day 
— Her  Position  and  Her  Influence. 


I. 

AFTER  having  in  the  preceding  pages 
noted  the  various  elements  which  help  to 
make  the  modern  American  woman,  we  are 
interested  in  showing  how,  by  birth  and 
tradition,  by  nature  and  education,  she  was 
the  absolute  antithesis  of  the  woman  of  the 
Orient,  of  whom  the  Hitopadeqa  says  :  "  A 
woman  should  be  under  her  father's  care 
during  her  infancy,  under  her  husband's 
daring  her  girlhood,  under  her  son's  during 
her  old  age,  and  never  independent."  In 
the  United  States  she  is  under  no  one's  in- 
dividual protection,  but  under  that  of  every- 
one. We  have  shown  by  what  countries, 
under  what  social  conditions,  and  as  the  re- 
sult of  what  religious  and  political  crises,  the 
colonies  of  the  New  World  were  peopled. 


184     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

By  the  help  of  historical  documents  we 
have  run  over  this  colonial  period  as  it  was 
at  the  beginning  ;  we  have  shown  that  man 
was  absorbed  by  daily  outdoor  work,  woman 
by  household  duties,  and  that  the  equality 
of  the  two  sexes  was  the  result  of  the  equal- 
ity of  their  duties  and  responsibilities ; 
then,  as  prosperity  grew,  that  woman's  task 
became  less  important,  while  man's  re- 
mained the  same,  the  leisure  of  one  being 
contrasted  with  the  heavy  labour  of  the 
other. 

Her  own  intelligence  has  developed  and 
broadened  ;  that  of  man  has  become  special- 
ised and  concentrated  ;  his  early  education 
is  limited,  and  remunerative  work  waits  for 
him  and  claims  him  at  an  early  age.  As  to 
woman,  man's  equal  and  companion  from 
the  start,  little  by  little  she  has  become 
his  superior  through  the  leisure  which  he 
has  created  for  her  and  through  the  use 
which  she  has  made  of  it,  by  intellectual 
culture,  by  her  many  and  varied  accomplish- 
ments, and  by  the  stand  which  she  knows 
how  to  take  and  to  hold.  She  is  the  result 
of  many  circumstances  which  nowhere  else 
are  found  united  to  such  a  degree,  and  all 
of  which  have  contributed  to  make  her  the 
superior  type  of  her  race.  In  her  are  com- 
bined the  characteristic  traits  which  with  man 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     185 

are  more  special,  and  which  therefore  appear 
more  accentuated,  and  more  exaggerated,  as 
well  by  the  free  play  of  natural  instincts  as 
by  the  necessity  of  making  weapons  of  them 
in  the  struggle  for  existence,  and  of  secur- 
ing their  full  reward  and  practical  utility. 
With  the  woman  these  characteristics  exist, 
but  they  are  softened  and  held  in  check  ; 
she  rounds  their  angles,  smooths  their  sur- 
faces, and  out  of  a  dull  pebble  makes  a 
precious  gem  ;  the  constituent  parts  are  the 
same,  but  a  skilful  cutting  brings  the 
brilliancy  and  the  beauty  of  the  stone  into 
bold  relief. 

If  we  examine  in  detail  these  primitive 
elements  which  make  a  type  of  the  citizen 
of  the  United  States  clearly  distinct  from 
the  European  of  which  he  is  the  issue, — of 
the  Anglo-Saxon  and  of  the  Dutchman,  of 
the  Irishman  and  the  Frenchman,  of  the 
Spaniard  and  the  German,  of  the  Italian 
and  of  the  Scandinavian, — whose  blood  min- 
gles in  his  veins,  we  are  surprised  at  the 
small  part  that  heredity  seems  to  have 
played  in  the  formation  of  the  race.  The 
few  traits  that  one  finds  here  and  there,  and 
whose  direct  relation  to  one  another  can  be 
demonstrated,  seem  to  be  allied  and  in  jux- 
taposition ;  they  depend  but  slightly  on 
a  central  base ;  they  break  away  from  it 


186     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

without  an  effort,  and  can  disappear  without 
changing  the  whole.  On  the  other  hand, 
nowhere  is  the  influence  of  the  motive 
power  better  comprehended  and  understood. 
So,  as  in  a  faithful  mirror,  one  sees  in  the 
American,  in  his  faults  and  in  his  character, 
in  his  thoughts  and  ideas,  the  influence  of 
his  native  soil,  of  his  climate,  and  of  the 
early  conditions  of  his  existence.  In  this 
mirror  appear  the  factors  of  which  the 
powerful  and  constant  play,  sometimes  ex- 
cessive, has  determined  the  superiority ; 
just  as  in  the  case  of  a  blacksmith  one  notes 
the  abnormal  development  of  the  muscles  of 
the  arm,  or  as  one  marks  the  flexibility  of 
an  artist's  hands,  or  the  breadth  of  the 
shoulders  of  a  wrestler. 

In  the  first  place,  there  is  the  will,  per- 
severing, persistent,  the  same  to-day  as  it 
was  yesterday  and  as  it  will  be  to-morrow. 
Having  the  work  to  do  and  the  obstacles 
to  overcome,  this  faculty  entered  first  into 
play,  with  its  inevitable  merits  and  faults, 
of  firmness  and  also  of  rigidity.  The  con- 
ditions of  its  milieu  did  not  weaken  it,  the 
results  obtained  did  not  discourage  it,  but, 
on  the  contrary,  they  developed  it,  stimu- 
lated its  activity,  and  better  adapted  the 
well-tempered  implement  to  the  strong  hand 
of  the  workman.  The  aim,  simple  and 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     187 

limited  in  the  beginning,  did  not  go  beyond 
the  material  conditions  of  existence ;  but, 
this  first  goal  reached,  the  horizon  became 
widened,  and  ambition  grew  with  acquired 
experience,  with  the  means  of  freer  action, 
and  with  the  assured  foundation,  so  that 
the  object  at  last  grew  definite.  In  a  demo- 
cratic society  as  this  was,  thoroughly  ab- 
sorbed in  the  thoughts  of  purely  material 
order,  as  is  every  growing  society,  this  object 
could  only  be  money. 

They  had  eliminated  rank  and  social  dis- 
tinction, caste  and  privilege  ;  intellectual  cul- 
ture as  'jet  existed  only  in  exceptional 
cases ;  public  employment  was  rare,  and, 
being  poorly  paid,  was  little  sought  after. 
Neither  by  genius  nor  by  arms  could  men 
rise,  as  was  the  case  in  the  ancient  repub- 
lics :  the  only  road  leading  from  the  crowd 
to  the  foremost  rank  was  that  of  fortune, 
the  natural  and  material  result  of  labour 
and  of  will. 

The  citizens  of  the  United  States  have 
often  been  reproached  for  their  worship  of 
the  Almighty  Dollar  ;  but  one  has  too  often 
neglected  to  show  that  for  them  the  dollar  is 
above  all  a  representative  sign.  With  re- 
gard to  their  energy  in  winning  wealth, — such 
an  energy  that  with  them  the  Jews  could  not 
gain  a  footing  and  would  not  know  how  to 


OF  THB 

UNIVERSITY 


188     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

prosper, — enough  has  not  been  said  of  the 
inexhaustible  generosity  of  this  people  who 
were  eager  for  gain  largely  because  the 
gain  was  for  a  long  time  their  only  mark  of 
success,  the  sole  end  toward  which  their  am- 
bition could  strive.  Notwithstanding  the 
growing  pre-eminence  of  material  interests 
in  Europe,  we  should  have  trouble  in  con- 
ceiving of  a  social  organisation  where  money 
alone  ruled.  People  are  pleased  to  say  that 
we  have  reached  this  ;  at  heart  we  do  not 
believe  it,  even  while  willingly  repeating  this 
pessimistic  axiom.  In  France,  more  than 
elsewhere,  we  consider  a  great  scholar,  a  great 
artist,  a  great  writer,  to  be  rich  in  all  respects, 
however  rich  or  poor  materially  he  may  be. 
Above  wealth  we  place  many  things ;  in 
reality  we  consider  so  many  qualities  in  our 
appreciation  of  others  that  their  money  is 
only  a  secondary  consideration,  and  no  one 
feels  this  more  than  those  very  ones  to 
whom  wealth  is  the  only  title  to  considera- 
tion. If  in  the  United  States,  if  in  England, 
money  has  appeared  to  hold  the  first  rank, 
it  is  because  in  the  United  States  it  was  for 
many  years  the  one  criterion  of  success,  it 
was  because  in  England,  where  the  limits  of 
social  consideration  were  accurately  defined, 
money  seemed  the  leveller  of  barriers,  as  the 
instrument  of  those  who,  starting  from  noth- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     189 

ing,  aspired  to  be  something.  It  lias  not 
been  so  since  the  barriers  have  been  lowered, 
and  since,  by  the  setting  to  work  of  other 
faculties  than  that  of  making  money,  the 
man  of  energy  and  talent  can  open  for  him- 
self better  ways  which  harmonise  with  his 
natural  desires,  can  leave  the  highway 
crowded  by  the  mob,  and  reach  his  aim  by 
different  paths.  In  sketching  in  a  series  of 
articles  published  by  the  Remie  des  Deux 
Mondes,  and  since  collected  into  one  vol- 
ume, the  history  of  the  great  fortunes  in  the 
United  States  and  in  England,  we  were  forced 
to  state  how  rarely  the  ruling  passion  for 
building  up  a  colossal  fortune  has  put  in  mo- 
tion the  higher  faculties  of  those  who  have 
succeeded  in  so  doing.  Money  has  come  to 
them  by  accumulation,  by  the  very  force  of 
circumstances,  but  few,  very  few,  of  these 
founders  of  financial  dynasties  have  had  as 
their  aim  in  life  the  accumulation  of  millions. 
A  problem  to  solve,  an  invention  to  intro- 
duce, an  economic  idea  to  launch,  a  new  in- 
dustry to  create,  a  conquest  to  add  to  the 
common  inheritance  of  humanity — these 
were  the  points  of  departure,  the  motive  and 
the  object.  In  attaining  the  latter  they 
gained  at  the  same  time  wealth  ;  but  for 
most  of  them  wealth  was  only  an  aid,  a  tool, 
a  means  of  giving  wings  to  the  will,  of  tri- 


190     TEE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

umpiring  over  obstacles.  Alone,  by  itself, 
wealth  did  not  satisfy  any  of  their  highest 
aspirations  ;  and  those  whom  humanity  will 
remember  were  prouder  of  the  labour  they 
had  accomplished  than  of  their  piled  up  mil- 
lions. It  is  too  true  that  these  high  aims 
may  be  the  lot  of  a  particular  few.  It  is  no 
less  true  that,  considering  American  society 
as  a  whole,  the  homage  paid  to  money  is  not 
so  universal  as  one  might  imagine,  and  that 
we  must  take  into  account  this  fact :  that  the 
role  which  money  plays  comes  from  this, 
that  it  alone  proclaims  the  success  whose  im- 
portance is  measured  by  its  possession. 

To  those  who  denounce  the  so-called  ex- 
clusive worship  paid  in  the  United  States  to 
the  Almighty  Dollar  the  moral  and  social 
ostracism  which  Jay  Gould  encountered, 
king  of  gold  though  he  was,  the  one  who 
still  personifies  the  most  mighty  accumula- 
tion of  capital  in  the  hands  of  a  single  man, 
is  an  unanswerable  reply.  We  know  what 
this  pirate  financier  was,  in  whom  existed  to 
an  excess  the  two  motives  of  which  we  speak, 
the  implacable  will  power  and  the  love  of 
gold,  for  the  accumulation  of  which  his  spec- 
ulations could  not  win  pardon  even  in  his 
private  virtues.  Notwithstanding  all  this, 
this  same  man,  who  in  1869  threw  the  financial 
market  of  the  United  States  into  a  frightful 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     191 

panic  in  which  twenty-seven  of  the  largest 
banking-houses  went  down,  dragging  in  their 
fall  some  hundreds  of  commercial  firms,  he 
who  came  out  of  this  great  fight  "king  of 
gold  and  of  railroads,"  this  unmoved  specu- 
lator whom  nothing  daunted,  not  even  the 
tragic  death  of  the  friends  whom  he  sacri- 
ficed, was  kind  and  gentle  to  his  family,  sim- 
ple in  his  tastes,  irreproachable  in  his  mor- 
als, and  one  who  bowed  his  head  in  resigna- 
tion before  the  ostracism  which  smote  him. 
He  died  without  knowing  why  he  was  hated 
and  despised.  He  felt  the  scorn  and  suffered 
from  it,  but  it  had  no  effect  upon  him.  He 
sought  neither  to  conquer  it  nor  to  overwhelm 
it  by  his  millions,  which  he  was  unable  even 
to  enjoy.  The  human  heart  has  strange 
mysteries.  This  redoubtable  financier,  this 
master  of  money  whose  one  word  revolution- 
ised the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  knew 
misery  and  bravely  bore  it.  This  cold  calcu- 
lator, whom  neither  threats  nor  prayers  ever 
moved,  was  hesitating  and  timid  before  the 
woman  he  loved.  His  few  letters,  which  we 
have  at  hand,  show  him  in  such  a  light  that 
one  asks  whether  he  is  the  same  man,  and  by 
what  strange  contrast  such  incongruous  feel- 
ings could  exist  in  one  inexplicable  individ- 
uality. Gould  was,  in  his  way,  a  represent- 
ative man,  a  characteristic  type,  in  certain 


192     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

marked  respects  of  that  which  the  will  and 
the  desire  can  produce  when  these  unbal- 
anced instincts  are  let  loose  without  any 
restraint  from  surroundings  favourable  to 
their  full  development.  He  was  also  a 
living  proof  of  the  fact  that  gold  does  not 
stand  quite  supreme  in  the  United  States, 
and  that  public  opinion  does  not  bow  like  a 
slave  before  those  who  possess  it,  even  when 
they  join  to  its  envied  possession  private  vir- 
tues such  as  one  rarely  sees  in  mere  money 
makers.  Because  of  these  various  standards 
the  man  himself  is  worth  describing,  and 
their  contrasts  also  are  worthy  of  note. 

In  his  youth,  anxious  to  learn  and  con- 
scious of  his  ignorance,  this  farmer's  son  rose 
at  four  o'clock  on  winter  mornings  to  study 
mathematics.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  trav- 
elled as  a  land  surveyor,  poorly  clad,  with- 
out money,  small,  thin,  wretched,  going, 
however,  as  many  as  sixty  miles  a  day.  He 
writes  in  these  words  to  one  of  his  friends  (he 
had  friends  then)  the  touching  story  of  his 
misery,  of  his  trials,  of  his  failures  and  his 
persistent  labour : 

"I  had  nothing;  that  is  to  say,  every- 
thing I  possessed  in  the  world  consisted  of 
a  dime,  with  which  I  was  determined  not 
to  part.  The  winter  was  approaching,  and 
despair  was  gaining  on  me.  If  tears  could 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     193 

have  filled  an  empty  purse,  mine  would  have 
indeed  been  full.  Weakness  and  hunger 
were  telling  on  me  cruelly,  when  a  farmer 
stopped  me,  and,  knowing  that  I  was  a  sur- 
veyor, asked  me  to  dine  with  him,  and  in 
the  afternoon  survey  his  field.  With  what 
joy  did  I  accept,  having  eaten  nothing  but 
a  hard  biscuit  the  night  before,  and  being 
hardly  able  to  stand  upright.  After  dinner 
I  did  the  work.  He  asked  me  what  he  owed 
me.  '  Nothing,'  I  answered,  thinking  my- 
self sufficiently  paid  by  the  dinner  which  had 
saved  my  life.  But  he  insisted,  and  made 
me  accept  half  a  dollar,  saying  that  his 
neighbour  had  paid  twice  as  much  a  few  days 
before  for  the  same  work.  The  discovery  of 
a  new  world  could  not  have  made  me  hap- 
pier than  did  this  half  dollar.  I  felt  myself 
rich,  having  something  with  which  to  sup- 
ply myself  with  food  for  two  days,  and  it 
was  with  revived  spirits  that  I  left  him.  He 
spoke  of  me  to  other  farmers,  who  employed 
me,  and  at  the  end  of  my  stay  I  had  actually 
six  dollars  in  my  pocket." 

Ten  years  later  he  had  $150,000.  Stopping 
once  in  New  York,  he  chanced  to  pass  the 
Everett  House,  one  of  the  large  hotels  of  the 
city.  At  one  of  the  windows  he  saw  a  young 
girl,  whose  regular  features,  sweet  manner, 
and  appearance  of  goodness  charmed  him. 


194     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

From  that  time  Miss  Miller  often  met  in  the 
hotel  parlours  or  at  table  this  young  man, 
whose  eyes  followed  her  everywhere,  but 
who,  silent  and  timid,  hesitated  to  begin  a 
conversation  with  her  father  or  approach 
her.  A  chance  occurrence  accomplished 
what  he  dared  not  do,  and  several  months 
later  Miss  Miller  became  Mrs.  Gould.  She 
did  not  regret  it,  for  never  was  any  husband 
more  faithful  and  affectionate.  Jay  Gould's 
most  bitter  slanderers  have  always  done  jus- 
tice to  the  purity  of  his  morals  and  the  rec- 
titude of  his  private  life.  After  his  mar- 
riage he  established  himself  in  New  York, 
and  commenced  in  Wall  Street  his  phenom- 
enal career.  In  1870  he  was  the  richest  man 
in  the  United  States,  and  perhaps  in  the 
whole  world.  The  terrible  panic  on  the  Ex- 
change in  March,  1869,  his  taking  possession 
of  the  lines  of  the  Erie,  the  Saratoga,  and  of 
the  Western  Union,  the  great  rise  in  Pacific 
Railroad  shares,  made  him  the  best  known 
and  the  most  hated  personage  in  the  United 
States. 

Two  men  had  predicted  from  the  begin- 
ning Jay  Gould's  astonishing  capacity  and 
limitless  cupidity.  One,  John  B.  Alley,  a 
Member  of  Congress,  said  of  him,  when  he 
was  only  twenty-four  years  old,  and  after 
half  an  hour's  conversation  with  him  :  UI 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     195 

never  want  to  do  business  with  Gould  ;  he 
is  the  only  man  I  ever  met  who  makes  me 
feel  afraid."  Yanderbilt,  who  understood 
men,  wrote  at  the  same  time  to  one  of  his 
friends  :  "  I  met  one  Jay  Gould ;  remember 
his  name ;  he  will  succeed ;  but  he  has  in 
him  the  making  of  a  bandit."  One  of  his 
few,  very  few  friends,  has  made  an  exact 
portrait  of  him.  He  shows  the  complex 
physiognomy,  the  double  individuality,  of 
his  subject ;  the  mixture  of  sobriety  and 
cupidity,  the  sweetness  of  disposition  and 
the  indomitable  will,  the  simplicity  of  tastes 
and  the  immeasurable  ambition,  the  courtesy 
and  the  cynicism,  which  characterise  this 
strange  individuality.  This  portrait,  like 
that  by  Mr.  Poultney  Bigelow,  sketched  in 
the  Speaker,  throws  a  new  light  upon  this 
strange  nature.  With  the  aid  of  these  docu- 
ments, and  of  some  letters  in  which  the  true 
man  reveals  himself,  we  can  reach  the  con- 
stituent elements  and  the  various  factors 
which  set  in  motion  this  powerful  intelli- 
gence, which  carried  so  high  the  fortune  and 
placed  so  low  the  name  of  Jay  Gould. 

A  weak  and  sickly  body,  an  inflexible 
will,  a  wonderful  foresight,  a  faultless  mem- 
ory, and  a  faculty  of  abstraction  which,  in  a 
crisis,  allowed  him  to  isolate  himself,  indif- 
ferent to  external  panic,  to  clamour,  and  to 


196     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

threats,  absorbed  in  his  combinations  and 
calculations — such  he  was  in  1869,  directing 
from  his  private  office  his  formidable  opera- 
tions, fearlessly  planning  his  evolutions  on 
the  most  treacherous  soil,  as  calm  as  a 
checker  player,  having  foreseen  everything, 
calculated  everything,  and  made  sure  of  his 
result.  He  was,  as  we  have  said,  short,  thin, 
and  taciturn.  He  had  a  jet-black  beard, 
hair,  and  eyes,  regular  features,  a  high  and 
massive  forehead.  Of  quiet  manners  and 
few  gestures,  unmoved  and  cold  in  business 
and  in  public,  at  heart  he  was  affectionate, 
and  no  cares  or  anxieties  ever  crossed  his 
threshold.  With  his  family  he  was  always 
sweet  and  amiable  ;  with  strangers  he  was 
invariably  courteous  and  perfectly  self- 
possessed  ;  and  this  weak  body  had  nerves 
of  iron  and  an  ever-lucid  brain.  At  the  time 
of  his  start  in  life  he  had  to  fight  with 
misery,  but  he  did  not  fear  it,  convinced 
that  if  it  were  to  happen  again  he  should 
know  the  reason.  From  his  contact  with 
wretchedness  and  his  victory  over  it  a 
mournful  conviction  remained  to  him  :  that 
wealth  was  for  the  strongest  and  the  clever- 
est, and  that  everything  was  permissible  in 
order  to  attain  it.  Son  of  a  countryman,  he 
nevertheless  held  in  great  esteem  superiority 
of  birth,  of  knowledge,  of  position.  He  en- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     197 

vied  them,  and  admired  them  from  a  dis- 
tance, without  daring  to  pretend  to  them, 
for  he  did  not  consider  that  gold  took  their 
place.  A  parvenu,  he  remained  humble 
before  that  which  he  knew  he  was  unable  to 
buy  or  pay  for,  recognising  that  he  was 
different  from  those  whom  he  considered 
socially  his  superiors,  and  who  scorned  to 
treat  him  as  an  equal.  He  understood 
nothing  of  the  ostracism  of  which  he  was 
the  object,  of  the  repulsion  his  name  and 
the  methods  by  which  he  had  built  his  col- 
ossal fortune  inspired.  He  knew  that  he 
kept  within  the  laws.  Had  he  not  bought 
the  expounders  of  them,  had  he  not  paid 
the  judges  and  witnesses,  and  bribed  the 
press,  giving,  as  he  did  in  1873,  a  check  for 
ten  thousand  dollars  to  the  editor  of  a  paper 
to  suppress  a  paragraph  of  several  lines 
directed  against  him  ? 

Mr.  Bigelow  relates  as  follows  the  one  in- 
terview which  he  had  with  Jay  Gould.  It 
confirms  what  we  say.  "  Chance,"  he  says, 
"  brought  about  our  meeting.  A  friend, 
whose  country  seat  was  next  to  Jay  Gould's, 
and  with  whom  I  was  spending  a  few  days, 
invited  me  to  take  a  trip  on  the  Hudson  in 
his  steam  yacht.  We  were  waiting  at  the 
wharf  when  Jay  Gould  arrived.  He  was 
going  to  the  same  place  as  ourselves,  but  his 


198     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

yacht  was  not  read y.  Although  my  friend 
did  not  know  him,  seeing  him  in  difficulty, 
he  offered  to  take  him  on  board  his  yacht. 
It  was  an  act  of  ordinary  courtesy,  which 
demanded  nothing  further,  and  during  the 
trip  he  abstained  from  talking  with  him. 
As  for  me,  I  had  not  the  same  reasons,  being 
only  a  temporary  guest  in  the  place,  and 
I  began  a  conversation  with  this  man,  of 
whom  I  had  heard  so  much  and  so  often. 
We  talked  for  some  time  of  everything 
except  the  Exchange,  and  I  was  strongly 
impressed  by  the  social  isolation  in  which 
Gould  seemed  to  have  lived.  A  child  could 
not  have  questioned  me  as  greedily  as  did 
he  about  unknown  countries,  about  Europe, 
its  institutions,  its  customs.  He  questioned 
me  as  a  man  does  who  seeks  to  corroborate 
facts  previously  learned,  but  which  he 
doubts.  He  spoke  of  well-known  people 
and  places,  but  he  pronounced  their  names 
hesitatingly,  as  though  they  were  not 
familiar  to  him.  His  questions  betrayed  a 
naive  ignorance  of  all  that  the  world  knows, 
and  those  which  he  asked  me  about  the  role 
and  the  attributes  of  a  Prime  Minister  of 
England  were  like  those  one  would  ask  a 
traveller  just  arrived  from  the  heart  of  Asia 
about  the  position  and  functions  of  the 
Grand  Lama.  Everything  that  had  not  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     199 

do  with  the  one  aim  of  his  life  seemed  to 
him  a  hidden  science  or  something  reserved 
for  scholars.  And,  nevertheless,  the  man 
impressed  me  by  the  breadth  and  depth  of 
some  of  his  thoughts,  by  an  intellectual 
superiority  which  was  reflected  in  the  quiet 
simplicity  of  his  language.  For  two  hours 
he  held  me  under  this  impression,  and  I 
could  not  help  comparing  his  position  in  the 
financial  world  with  his  absence  of  every 
pretension,  with  the  tact  with  which  he 
avoided  those  subjects  which  he  under- 
stood better  than  anyone,  and  the  marvel- 
lous comprehension  with  which  he  grasped 
all  that  was  said  to  him." 

He  lived  then  in  a  splendid  residence 
at  Irvington-on-the-Hudson,  as  well  known 
as  is  Washington  Irving,  whose  modest 
villa  he  had  bought,  enlarged,  and  beauti- 
fied. Every  day  he  came  to  New  York, 
leaving  in  the  morning,  returning  at  night, 
by  an  express  train  which  the  railway  com- 
pany had  arranged  purposely  for  him,  and 
of  which  his  neighbours  had  the  benefit. 
They  were  almost  all  rich  bankers  or  mer- 
chants, and  had  a  special  parlour  car  for 
themselves,  to  which  their  little  aristocracy 
alone  had  access.  Jay  Gould  asked  them 
to  let  him  share  it.  They  refused,  and  this 
made  him  painfully  sensitive.  He  resigned 


200     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

himself,  however,  without  a  word.  Every- 
where about  him  he  met  with  this  ostracism, 
which  hurt  him  without  making  him  indig- 
nant. He  attributed  it  to  his  low  birth  and 
to  his  ignorance  of  the  usages  of  the  world. 
It  was  done,  he  thought,  to  the  common  and 
envied  parvenu,  not  to  the  evil  speculator, 
and  as  to  that  he  had  nothing  to  say.  He 
had  no  desire,  however,  to  answer  the  inso- 
lence of  scorn  by  the  insolence  of  his  wealth. 
He  could  have  done  it,  but  he  did  not  at- 
tempt it.  By  taste,  by  nature,  he  was  sim- 
ple, loving  neither  ostentation  nor  display. 
In  New  York  he  lived  in  a  palace,  in  the 
country  in  a  villa,  because  his  fortune  de- 
manded it,  because  others,  much  less  rich 
than  he,  lived  so,  and  he  did  not  wish  to  be 
odd.  But  palace  and  villa  were  closed  ;  the 
world  did  not  have  access  to  them,  and 
would  not  have  gone  there  in  any  case.  He 
understood  this,  and  avoided  the  insult  of 
being  refused,  asking  himself  naively  why 
he  had  deserved  it.  An  indefatigable 
worker,  he  was  gifted  with  marvellous  apti- 
tude, and  few  human  brains  were  as  power- 
fully organised  as  his.  He  left  nothing  to 
chance,  and  kept  in  his  vast  memory  a 
whole  world  of  definite  information  and 
carefully  classified  facts. 

"This  man  is  a  sorcerer,"   said  of  him 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     201 

once  a  large  Western  proprietor,  who  had 
unexpectedly  come  to  submit  to  him  a 
project  for  certain  branch  lines,  which  would 
increase  the  value  of  an  immense  tract  of 
land  still  uncultivated  for  want  of  roads 
connecting  it  with  the  Pacific  Railway. 
Gould  received  him  and  listened  to  the  end  ; 
then,  taking  up  each  argument  in  succes- 
sion, setting  aside  some,  and  approving 
others,  he  marked  the  distances,  the  turns, 
and  the  planes,  the  artificial  work  necessary, 
and  the  embankments,  and  showed  himself 
so  complete  a  master  of  the  subject  that  the 
narrator  of  the  story  added  :  "  I  have  lived 
in  this  region  for  twenty-five  years,  and  I 
thought  I  knew  it  better  than  any  man 
living,  but  Jay  Gould  proved  that  he  had 
known  it  one  hundred  times  longer  than  I. 
Not  an  error  in  his  assertions,  his  calcu- 
lations, or  figures, — I  have  since  verified 
them, — and  where  his  estimates  differed  from 
mine,  where  I  thought  they  were  faulty,  it 
was  I  who  was  wrong,  and  he  who  was  right, 
although  he  did  not  know  of  my  coming, 
and  was  not  told  in  advance  of  my  proposed 
visit,  or  of  what  I  wished  to  talk  with  him 
about." 

We  have  often  heard  of  his  office  in  Wall 
Street.  It  was,  in  its  way,  a  curiosity.  It 
united  all  that  modern  comfort,  the  most 


202     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

careful  forethought,  and  science  could  put 
at  the  service  of  a  man  who  had  unlimited 
capital,  who  had  every  reason  to  fear  for  his 
life,  and  whom  neither  time  nor  distance 
hindered  in  the  carrying  out  of  his  com- 
mands. The  latter  were  registered  by 
stenographers  ;  special  wires  brought  and 
carried  them ;  special  telephones  permitted 
instant  correspondence  with  his  brokers. 
Iron  doors,  covered  with  hangings,  a  suite 
of  rooms  occupied  by  secretaries,  clerks, 
detectives,  like  so  many  posts  of  inspection, 
were  obstacles  to  the  criminal  attempts  with 
which  he  was  constantly  threatened  in 
anonymous  letters.  More  than  once  he 
might  have  fallen  a  victim  to  them. 

In  1882  a  strange  thing  happened  in  his 
office.  From  the  year  1880  on,  numerous 
enemies  had  attacked  him  venomously, 
forcing  him  to  strain  his  credit.  There  was 
a  report  that  Jay  Gould  was  in  danger,  that 
he  was  converting  everything  into  money  to 
meet  his  losses ;  some  articles  skilfully  in- 
serted in  the  newspapers  heightened  the 
effect  of  such  reports,  and  they  increased. 
The  fall  of  the  money  king,  they  said,  was 
only  a  question  of  time.  But  that  which 
but  moderately  affected  public  opinion,  and 
but  feebly  moved  the  money  market  when 
other  questions  arose,  became  very  sei  ious 


OF 

TJNIVE 

CALIFORHVI 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      203 

when  that  of  the  great  regulator  of  the 
money  market  was  mentioned, — his  ruin 
would  involve  numberless  others  with  it, — so 
that,  from  every  portion  of  the  Union,  tele- 
grams poured  in  upon  Gould,  anxious,  des- 
perate, threatening.  It  was  necessary  for 
him  to  act  and  to  end  the  panic.  He  called 
a  meeting  in  his  office  of  the  prominent 
bankers  of  New  York  and  some  of  the  edi- 
tors of  the  principal  newspapers.  In  a  few 
words  he  explained  to  them  the  situation, 
asking  them  to  be  the  judges  of  it.  By  his 
orders  his  private  secretary  opened  one  of 
the  safes  and  placed  on  the  table  a  bundle 
of  papers  and  certificates  of  stock  receipts. 
Jay  Gould  asked  those  present  to  proceed 
to  an  inventory  of  the  first  bundle  of  papers. 
The  total  was  fifty-three  million  dollars. 

"And  now,  gentlemen,"  he  said,  "we 
will,  if  you  please,  verify  the  amount  in 
coin,  the  sums  now  due  me,  the  government 
bonds,  and  my  current  accounts." 

The  result  of  the  inventory  revealed  a 
condition  that  they  could  scarcely  believe — 
the  fact  that  his  personal  income  at  that 
time  exceeded  twelve  million  dollars.  Rus- 
sell Sage  had  been  right  when,  questioned  a 
few  days  before  in  regard  to  the  reports, 
he  had  answered:  "There  is  not  a  word 
of  truth  in  them.  Gould  could  not  possibly 


204     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

reach  the  limit  of  his  income.  I  do  not 
believe  his  annual  expenses  amount  to  two 
million  dollars,  and  he  should  be  able  to  set 
aside  eight  or  ten  millions  every  year."  On 
the  following  day  the  New  York  papers 
told  in  full  of  this  visit  to  Aladdin's  palace. 
Nothing  more  was  necessary  to  stop  the 
panic. 

Jay  Gould  lost  his  wife  in  1889,  and 
from  that  time  on  he  seemed  heart-broken. 
This  cold  speculator  dearly  loved  his  family, 
and  especially  the  faithful  companion  whom 
the  world  did  not  know,  and  whose  hus- 
band's name  closed  to  her  the  doors  of 
drawing-rooms.  There  were  two  men  in 
Gould — the  Irvington  Gould,  and  the  Gould 
of  Wall  Street ;  his  wife  knew  only  the 
former,  and  was  devoted  to  him  to  the  last. 
For  her  and  with  her  he  was  the  husband, 
the  affectionate  head  of  the  family,  who  left 
his  business  at  his  office,  with  his  terrible 
greed  for  gain,  his  implacable  will,  his  cruel 
hardness  of  heart. 

His  wife  dead,  he  left  Wall  Street  for 
Irvington,  where  she  no  longer  was,  but 
where  everything  spoke  of  her.  For  his 
love  of  gold  he  substituted  a  love  of  the 
flowers  that  she,  too,  had  loved.  He  en- 
larged his  conservatories,  which  he  made 
the  largest  in  the  world ;  he  finished  his 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     205 

grove  of  palms,  valued  at  more  than  a  mil- 
lion dollars,  and  completed  his  collection  of 
orchids  and  of  rare  plants,  for  which  he 
spent  no  end  of  money.  In  this  way  he 
managed  to  exist,  surrounded  by  his  two 
sons  and  his  two  daughters,  until  death 
came. 

"The  man  had  good  qualities,"  writes 
Bigelow.  His  private  life  was  pure,  and  he 
was  generous  without  ostentation.  Had  he 
lived  twenty  years  longer,  his  faults  would, 
perhaps,  have  been  forgotten.  He  would 
have  opened  his  doors  to  those  very  persons 
whom  we  have  seen  begging  invitations  from 
the  plutocratic  Vanderbilts,  The  papers 
would  have  spoken  of  him  in  terms  worthy 
of  a  millionaire  philanthropist ;  like  others 
he  would  have  bought  for  cash  the  social 
notoriety  which  one  wrongly  confounds  with 
respect.  "  Jay  Gould  is  dead,"  writes  the 
New  York  Herald,  "  not  as  he  expected  to 
die,  from  an  assassin's  blow,  but  as  a  man 
who  falls  asleep,  surrounded  by  his  children, 
in  the  room  where  his  wife  breathed  her 
last.  As  a  private  individual,  criticism  can- 
not touch  him  ;  he  was  an  irreproachable 
husband  and  father.  As  a  public  man  he 
was  the  world's  most  detestable  example. 
No  one  envied  his  success,  for  he  paid  too 
dearly  for  it.  A  financier  by  nature,  a  spec- 


206     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

ulator  without  a  rival,  he  was  also  une- 
qualled in  his  sovereign  indifference  to  the 
consequences  of  his  acts.  He  has  left  count- 
less millions  and  a  great  moral  lesson.  His 
wealth  will  go  to  his  heirs  ;  but  to  those 
who  are  tempted  to  envy  him  or  to  imitate  his 
example  it  seems  as  though  a  voice  from 
the  tomb  cried :  '  Stop  !  do  not  do  as  I  have 
done.'  Whatever  we  may  say,  the  world  is 
fair  and  just ;  in  its  eyes  honour  is  worth 
more  than  all  else.  And  the  world  has 
judged  Gould  and  has  condemned  him." 

There  is  no  more  leniency  in  the  United 
^  States  than  in  Europe  for  ill-gotten  gains, 
large  though  they  may  be.  It  is  wrong, 
however,  from  this  fact,  to  deny  that  this 
leniency  may  be  found  to  a  greater  degree 
in  the  United  States  than  elsewhere,  or  to 
deny  that  the  influence  of  money  is  less 
there  than  elsewhere.  Such  as  it  is,  this 
influence  is  excessive ;  it  is  less  the  re- 
sult of  the  transmission  of  ideas  than  the 
lack  of  any  counterbalance  to  establish  in 
public  opinion  a  proper  equilibrium. 

We  have  shown  above  how  the  persist- 
ent pursuit  of  money,  the  one  proof  of 
success,  is  incompatible  with  intellectual 
culture,  how  the  latter  became  the  aim  of 
the  women,  as  wealth  was  that  of  their 
fathers  and  husbands,  and  how  by  this  fact 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     207 

women  advanced  beyond  the  men  and 
won  prestige  in  the  eyes  of  the  latter.  In 
the  modern  American  women  we  find  devel- 
oped in  another  direction  the  characteristic 
traits  that  we  have  described :  the  will,  the 
energy  of  a  race  of  settlers  ;  and  the  taste  for 
getting  money  has  been  transformed  into  a 
taste  for  spending  it.  The  woman  of  the 
United  States  is,  we  have  said,  the  means  of 
spending,  as  man  is  the  means  of  getting ; 
the  luxury  of  the  one  announces  the  success 
of  the  other.  But  as  the  conditions  of  actual 
life  change,  as  the  conditions  of  new  coun- 
tries disappear,  in  which  everything  is  and 
seems  to  be  possible,  as  careers  become  em- 
barrassed, and  as  the  chances  for  rapid 
wealth  decrease,  other  ideas  arise,  other 
factors  enter  into  play,  the  slow  and  con- 
tinued operation  of  which  suffices  to 
change  the  earlier  conceptions  and  to  lessen 
whatever  there  is  in  them,  excessive  or 
outre.  The  originality  of  the  race  suffers, 
perhaps,  from  this,  but  its  active  forces  will 
accomplish  none  the  less  for  being  curbed 
and  disciplined.  In  any  case  the  American 
woman  loses  nothing  by  it,  and  especially 
the  young  girl ;  far  from  decreasing,  her 
influence  grows  ;  she  makes  herself  strongly 
felt  in  Europe,  even  in  France,  where  by 
the  fact  of  traditions,  customs,  and  morals 


208     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

she  appears  as  the  first  among  revolutionary 
elements,  changing  rapidly  our  ideas  on  the 
education  of  a  young  girl,  while  her  inde- 
pendence and  liberty  arouse  at  once  our 
envy  and  astonishment. 

A  few  years  ago  several  women  of  high  po- 
sition met  in  one  of  the  waiting-rooms  of  the 
German  Empress.  Stopping  in  Berlin,  they 
had  begged  the  favour  of  an  audience, 
through  their  respective  ambassadors,  and  a 
letter  from  the  Grand  Chamberlain  had  ap- 
pointed a  day  and  hour  when  the  Empress 
would  receive  them.  They  did  not  know 
one  another  ;  English,  Russian,  Austrian, 
Italian,  the  chances  of  travel  had  thrown 
them  together  for  the  first  time.  The  hour 
for  the  reception  passed,  and  the  sovereign 
did  not  appear.  Addressing  one  of  her 
neighbours,  one  of  the  ladies  expressed  her 
surprise  at  the  delay,  excusing  her  impa- 
tience by  the  fact  that,  as  an  American,  she 
was  not  familiar  with  court  etiquette. 

The  other  replied  smilingly  that  she,  too, 
was  an  American  by  birth,  but  had  lately 
married  an  Austrian  nobleman.  The  others 
drew  near,  entered  into  conversation,  and 
were  amazed  to  find  that  all  six  were  from 
the  Western  States  or  from  New  England. 
This  singular  and  significant  fact  proves 
what  we  have  said  of  England,  where  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     209 

number  of  historical  titles  are  to-day  borne 
by   American   women.      It  is  the  same  in 
France,  in  Germany,  Austria,  Russia,  Italy, 
and  it  is  not  only   among  the  aristocracy 
that  these  marriages  occur,  but  in  the  upper 
and  middle  classes.      We  Europeans  have 
often  taken  this  as  a  text  to  joke  more  or 
less  on  the  taste  of  the  American  women 
for  distinctions  of  nobility,  and  on   their 
inconsistency  in  priding  themselves  on  their 
republican  institutions  while  at  the  same 
time  boasting  of  their  monarchical  titles. 
But  apart  from  the  fact  that  they  are  not  the 
only  ones  who  act  thus,  these  are  in  reality 
only  the  exceptions.     These  marriages  be- 
come more  frequent  every  year  in    every 
large  city  of  the  Continent,  and  introduce  a 
new  social  element,  the  influence  of  which 
is  more  and  more  felt,  and  is  explained  by 
considerations  of  a  more  general  kind.     If 
there  is  no  country  in  the  world  where  the 
young  girl,  protected  by  the  respect  of  all, 
enjoys  so  much  independence  and  liberty  as 
in  the  United  States,  and  occupies  in  her 
family  and  in  the  world  so  prominent  a  po- 
sition, however  much  praised,  courted,  flat- 
tered, and  free  in  her  choice,  this  royalty 
exists  only  for  a  time,  and  a  short  time. 
The  brilliant  public  life  of  the  American  girl 
ceases,    as  a   rule,   on  her    wedding   day, 


210     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  the  French  girl,  who  is  disconcerted 
by  the  flirting,  by  the  wise  strategy,  by  the 
independence  of  the  other's  manner  and 
speech,  hardly  recognises  her  in  her  new 
role  of  married  woman.  Yet  she  does  not 
give  it  up  without  regret.  She  resigns  her- 
self with  difficulty  to  the  married  life,  so 
quiet,  by  comparison,  after  having  been  the 
belle  of  the  drawing-rooms.  Then  the 
American  woman  secretly  envies  the  foreign 
lady,  whom  she  had  eclipsed  for  several 
years,  but  whom  marriage  frees  at  the  same 
time  as  it  fetters  herself. 

To  add  to  the  advantages  in  the  life  of 
an  American  girl  those  of  the  married 
woman  in  Europe  is  an  enticing  ideal,  and 
it  suffices  to  explain  the  frequent  marriages 
which  the  Americans  make  upon  the  Conti- 
nent. It  explains  also  the  rapid  American- 
isation  of  Europe,  the  progress  which  the 
influence  and  the  example  of  the  United 
States  are  making  in  our  customs,  in  our 
educational  ideas  concerning  young  girls, 
and  in  the  degree  of  greater  liberty  they 
enjoy  every  day. 

But  Europe  in  its  turn  reacts  upon  Amer- 
ica ;  civilisation  is  the  result  of  such  contacts 
as  these;  and  now  for  several  years  past  we 
can  note  in  the  higher  classes  in  the  United 
States  a  tendency  to  adopt  some  of  the 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     211 

European  ideas  regarding  the  privileges  of 
married  women.  On  this  road  they  cannot, 
however,  travel  far,  on  account  of  the  diffi- 
culty of  taking  away  from  young  girls  an 
ascendency  consecrated  by  a  century  of  pos- 
session, and  by  a  swarm  of  habits,  customs, 
and  traditions.  If  changes  occur,  it  will  be 
due  to  another  order  of  ideas,  as  we  shall  ex- 
plain below,  in  showing  the  characteristic 
change  which  takes  place  on  the  subject 
under  discussion,  and  already  negatively 
treated,  that  of  the  dot. 

Like  every  essentially  progressive  race, 
the  American  is  eminently  adaptable  ;  it  has 
kept  neither  the  rigidity  nor  the  prejudices 
of  the  English.  If  American  men  accommo- 
date themselves  to  the  life  of  Paris,  London, 
or  Florence,  if  they  easily  conform  to  differ- 
ent conditions  of  life  and  surroundings, 
American  women  are  still  more  cosmopoli- 
tan. Europe  charms  them,  attracts  them, 
and  holds  them  by  its  intellectual  and  artis- 
tic culture,  by  its  historical  associations,  and 
also  by  its  relative  cheapness  and  its  less 
costly  pleasures.  One  has  to  live  a  long  time 
in  American  surroundings,  where  nothing 
appeals  to  the  imagination,  where  the  past 
dates  from  yesterday,  where  the  actual  cost 
of  living  is  expensive  and  the  labour  inces- 
sant, where  time  is  money  and  where  one 


212     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

must  economise,  in  order  fully  to  appreciate 
our  artistic  enjoyments,  our  museums  and 
our  galleries,  our  monuments  and  the  memo- 
ries which  they  evoke,  our  great  cities,  every 
stone  of  which  has  its  own  history.  All  this 
is  so  much  a  part  of  ourselves  that  we  imagine 
ourselves  biases  at  the  attractions  before  us, 
and  do  not  appreciate  them  until  we  have 
been  separated  from  them  for  a  time.  Yet 
this  for  quick  and  active  imaginations  has  a 
powerful  attraction,  and  you  will  easily  dis- 
tinguish in  the  Court  of  the  Louvre,  in  the 
Uffizi  at  Florence,  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa, 
and  the  Coliseum  at  Rome,  the  American 
woman  from  the  English,  by  the  admiring 
and  contemplative  look  of  the  former,  and 
by  the  absent-minded  glance  of  the  latter, 
turning  over  the  leaves  of  her  Baedeker. 
The  one  gazes,  the  other  reads  up  ;  one  has 
impressions,  the  other  reminiscences. 

As  is  the  English,  so  is  the  American 
woman  the  daughter  of  Europe,  and  neither 
time  nor  distance  has  lessened  in  her  the  cul- 
ture of  the  past.  She  is  more  attached  to  it 
the  farther  she  gets  away  from  it,  because 
her  memory  is  less  burdened  by  dates  and 
facts,  and  because,  in  turning  over  the  pages 
of  history,  she  satisfies  a  curiosity  aroused  by 
the  traditions  that  are  preserved  in  books. 
Surely,  neither  the  Seine  nor  the  Thames, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     213 

nor  the  Po  nor  the  Arno  recalls  the  Missis- 
sippi, which  rolls  its  turbid  waters  for 
over  1800  miles  ;  it  would  take  160  Lake 
Lemans  to  equal  the  surface  of  Lake  Super- 
ior, and  the  summit  of  even  Mont  Blanc 
does  not  reach  to  the  height  of  the  topmost 
point  of  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  but  the 
American  woman  does  not  forget  that  among 
these  limited  surroundings  great  things  are 
accomplished  ;  if  the  theatre  is  smaller,  the 
actor  appears  larger.  This  remarkable  fas- 
cination which  Europe  has  for  the  Amer- 
icans, and  especially  for  the  American 
woman,  is  not  a  recent  thing,  any  more  than 
the  varied  causes  of  this  attraction  are  new. 
The  study  of  certain  types,  taken  at  different 
times,  will  better  exhibit  in  their  proper  light 
with  the  American  woman's  faculty  of  adap- 
tability, the  good  and  bad  qualities  inherent 
in  the  race,  and  in  the  subject  we  are  study- 
ing. There  are  representative  women  as 
well  as  representative  men,  and  the  history 
of  one  of  the  women— a  history  which  min- 
gles with  our  own,  and  which  her  letters 
allow  us  to  reconstruct — will  show  us,  better 
than  any  general  observations,  the  attraction 
which  these  surroundings  have  for  women  ; 
it  will  also  bring  into  relief  the  two  prim- 
itive elements  in  her  which  we  have  noted 
in  the  man,  in  whom  they  attain  their 


214     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

maximum  intensity:  on  the  one  hand  an 
energetic  will,  and  on  the  other,  the  love 
of  money. 


II. 

On  the  4th  of  April,  1878,  Elizabeth  Pat- 
terson, the  lawful  bat  repudiated  wife  of 
Jerome  Bonaparte,  ex-king  of  Westphalia, 
died  at  the  age  of  ninety-three  years.  Her 
beauty,  her  undeserved  misfortunes,  her 
sharp  and  bitter  spirit,  and  the  events  of 
her  life  give  her  a  place  in  the  history  of 
her  times.  Born  in  Baltimore,  February  6, 
1785,  Elizabeth  Patterson  began  life  under 
the  most  favourable  circumstances.  From 
the  age  of  fifteen  her  great  beauty  was  cele- 
brated far  beyond  the  little  city  in  Maryland. 
Her  father,  a  clever  and  upright  merchant, 
held  the  first  position  among  the  merchants 
of  Baltimore.  She  was  eighteen  years  old 
when  in  1803  Jerome  Bonaparte,  brother  of 
the  First  Consul,  visited  New  York,  and 
at  Commodore  Barney's  invitation  went  to 
Baltimore.  There  at  an  entertainment  given 
in  his  honour  he  met  Elizabeth  Patterson 
and  fell  in  love  with  her  at  first  sight. 

He  was  young,  in  love,  and  surrounded  by 
that  aureole  of  glory  which  crowned  the 
name  of  Bonaparte.  Three  months  later  their 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     215 

civil  marriage  was  performed  before  the  con- 
sul of  France,  and  a  religious  marriage  by 
the  Bishop  of  Baltimore.  We  know  that  this 
marriage  was  not  recognized  by  the  Emperor, 
and  was  arbitrarily  annulled  in  1805,  and 
that  Prince  Jerome  married  in  1807  Princess 
Frederica  of  Wurtemberg.  We  know,  too, 
with  what  energy  and  perseverance  Elizabeth 
Patterson  defended  her  rights  and  those  of 
her  son  Jerome  Napoleon.  Forced  to  bow 
before  the  all-powerful  will  of  her  brother-in- 
law,  before  her  desertion  and  her  husband's 
second  marriage  she  suppressed  her  tears 
and  anger.  The  victim  of  politics  and  a  state 
policy  which  raised  her  husband  to  the  rank 
of  kings,  and  drove  her  without  title  or 
civil  position  to  Baltimore,  into  an  obscurity 
which  was  hateful  to  her,  Elizabeth  Patter- 
son had  to  submit,  but  she  never  became 
resigned.  Deceived  in  her  dreams  of  love 
and  ambition,  she  centred  in  her  son  all  her 
hopes  of  greatness.  Jerome  had  his  father's 
name  and  a  future  before  him ;  a  day  would 
come  when  altered  fortune  would  repair  the 
wrongs  done  to  Elizabeth  Patterson,  and 
when  her  son  would  return  to  her  what  his 
father  had  taken  away  by  submitting  to 
his  brother's  orders. 

For  twenty-five   years  she   lived  in  this 
hope,  following  with  attention  the  events 


216     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  which  Europe  was  the  theatre,  standing 
aloof,  a  powerless  yet  not  disinterested  on- 
looker at  the  prodigious  growth  of  the  Em- 
pire, at  its  perilous  success,  at  its  reverses, 
and  finally  at  its  fall.  The  Emperor's  des- 
potic will  cut  her  off  from  access  to  the  Court, 
a  cruel  privation  for  a  woman  who  thought 
she  was  called  there  to  play  a  great  role.  In- 
genious in  converting  her  tastes  into  duties, 
she  said  to  herself  that  there  alone  was  her 
place,  her  true  sphere,  and  that  the  future  of 
Jerome  Napoleon,  the  Emperor's  nephew,  a 
king's  son,  imperiously  demanded  a  rich  and 
powerful  alliance.  She  caressed  this  hope, 
striving  in  every  possible  way  to  awaken  am- 
bition in  her  son,  in  whom  her  own  rebellion, 
her  bitterness,  and  her  hopes  found  not  the 
slightest  echo.  In  her  letters  we  can  pene- 
trate the  deep  irritation  which  at  last  ended 
in  apathy.  She  was  so  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  role  which  circumstances  refused 
her,  yet  of  which  her  imagination  dreamed, 
that  she  spoke,  acted,  and  wrote  as  a  deposed 
sovereign,  haughtier  and  prouder  in  adver- 
sity even  than  in  prosperity. 

In  spite  of  everything  and  everybody,  she 
gained  the  society  of  the  Imperial  family, 
but  was  rejected,  persecuted,  and  repu- 
diated by  the  Emperor.  She  extolled  his 
genius  to  the  clouds  during  his  prosper- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     217 

ity  and    defended    his    memory  after  his 
death. 

With  her  husband  it  was  different.  She 
refused  the  title  of  Princess  of  Schmalcalden 
and  a  dowry  of  two  hundred  thousand 
francs  from  the  hand  of  the  King  of 
Westphalia,  but  accepted  a  modest  pension 
from  the  Emperor.  To  her  husband,  who 
complained  at  having  his  offers  rejected  and 
those  of  his  brother  accepted,  she  wrote  : 
"I  prefer  to  hide  under  an  eagle's  wing 
rather  than  hang  from  the  beak  of  a  gos- 
ling. "  Later  when  he  suggested  a  home 
in  Westphalia:  "  Your  kingdom  is  large,  " 
she  proudly  replied,  "but  not  large 
enough  for  two  queens.  "  A  Frenchwoman 
by  marriage,  she  was  also  a  French- 
woman at  heart.  No  trace  remained  of  her 
American  origin  or  her  family  affection. 
She  abjured  both  nationality  and  family  ; 
she  wished  to  forget  them,  to  make  those 
about  her  forget  them,  particularly  her  son, 
whom  she  took  to'  Geneva,  to  finish  his 
education.  It  was  a  strange  choice,  for  she 
wished  him  to  be  a  Catholic,  "the  only 
religion  possible,"  she  wrote,  "for  princes 
and  kings."  She  herself  was  a  Protestant, 
but  to  so  small  a  degree  that  it  is  not  worth 
mentioning.  To  her  intense  passion  for 
greatness,  she  added  that  of  economy ;  we 


218     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

shall  see,  later,  how  far  she  carried  the  latter. 
At  Geneva  she  flattered  herself  that  she  need 
spend  but  little.  We  have  tried  the  same 
thing ;  she  asserted  the  fact,  at  least,  and 
avenged  herself  by  one  of  those  unjust  re- 
marks which  are  familiar  with  her  :  "Have 
you  noticed,"  she  wrote  her  father,  uthat 
there  are  no  Jews  at  Geneva  ?  What  could 
they  do  there  ?  They  would  die  of  hunger  ; 
one  Gene vese  is  worth  four  Jews. ' '  Regard- 
ing her  family  she  was  ungovernable.  She 
never  pardoned  them  for  having  condemned 
her  marriage,  any  more  than  for  the  recep- 
tion they  gave  her  when  she  returned  to 
Baltimore  after  her  marriage  was  broken. 
Wounded  in  her  love,  exasperated  in  her 
pride,  she  found  but  little  sympathy  from 
them.  Their  advice  to  give  up  her  dreams 
of  greatness,  and  to  shut  herself  up  in  the 
quiet,  monotonous  life  of  a  little  American 
city,  however  wise  it  might  have  been, 
served  only  to  intensify  her  regrets  and 
increase  her  bitterness. 

The  Emperor's  marvellous  success,  the 
rapid  rise  of  her  husband,  glory,  kingdoms 
conquered  at  racing  speed,  the  brilliant 
assemblage  of  sovereign  allies  conquered  or 
deposed — all  these  echoes  of  a  world  from 
which  she  was  excluded  and  in  the  midst  of 
which  she  considered  herself  called  to  live, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     219 

made  her  more  intolerant  and  more  bitter, 
more  disdainful  and  scornful.  On  the  fall 
of  the  Empire  she  went  to  live  in  Florence, 
and  we  find  her  there  in  1829.  Jerome 
Napoleon  was  then  twenty-four  years *old. 
Without  ambition,  but  with  good  sense,  he 
preferred  to  the  wandering  life  of  an  adven- 
turer in  Europe  the  quiet  of  his  native  city, 
and  a  simple  life,  yet  one  worthy  of  his 
grandfather.  Yielding  to  his  prayers,  for 
he  influenced  her  by  his  strong  will,  his 
mother  at  length  allowed  him  to  return  to 
Baltimore  ;  as  to  her  following  him  she  did 
not  dream  of  it.  She  stayed  in  Florence, 
entirely  absorbed  by  her  idea  of  making  a 
marriage  for  her  son  that  should  be  worthy 
of  the  name  he  bore.  Already,  in  1826,  she 
had  hoped  to  marry  him  to  his  cousin  Char- 
lotte, daughter  of  Joseph  Bonaparte,  and 
whom  she  describes  in  no  very  flattering 
terms.  "A  hideous  little  creature,  and 
having  the  disposition  of  a  devil."  It 
is  true  that  when  she  spoke  thus  the  mar- 
riage project  had  come  to  naught,  Princess 
Charlotte  evincing  a  very  strong  liking  for 
another  suitor.  It  is  necessary  to  add  that 
the  marriage  negotiations  were  dragged  out 
to  a  great  length.  Mme.  Bonaparte  had 
charged  one  of  her  friends  of  the  Rothschild 
house  to  make  minute  inquiries  as  to 


OF  THK 

TTNTVR'R  CTT'-V 


220     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Joseph's  fortune.  "They  spoke,"  she  said, 
"  of  a  dot  of  3,500,000  francs  :  for  myself,  I 
did  not  believe  it,  but  I  had  decided  not  to 
give  Jerome  for  less  than  a  million,  in  cash. 
They  shall  not  deceive  me  with  promises  and 
hopes."  When  the  needed  information 
arrived,  it  was  too  late.  "  Moreover,"  she 
added,  "it  was  not  satisfactory." 

She  looked  elsewhere  and  thought  she  had 
reached  the  goal  of  her  efforts  when,  early  in 
September,  1829,  she  received  a  letter  from 
her  father  announcing  Jerome  Napoleon's 
engagement  to  Miss  Williams,  daughter  of  a 
Baltimore  merchant,  and  that  the  marriage 
^vvould  take  place  in  October.  This  news  de- 
stroyed all  dreams  for  the  future  ;  it  was  the 
ruin  of  her  last  hope  ;  after  the  father,  the 
Spn  had  betrayed  her.  Then  one  sees  in  her 
letters  that  had  she  been  able  to  break  the 
union,  as  the  Emperor  had  broken  hers,  she 
!  would  not  have  hesitated  to  take  the  most 
Arbitrary  measures  against  whose  illegality  \ 
jin  her  own  case  she  had  been  fighting  for  a/ 
quarter  of  a  century.  Her  answer  to  her 
father  was  a  cry  of  despair.  Were  she  on 
her  death-bed,  she  said,  in  suffocating  agony, 
God  would,  by  a  miracle,  give4  her  power  to 
protest  against  the  marriage.  Never  with 
her  consent  should  Jerome  marry  an  Amer- 
ican. Napoleon's  nephew,  she  said,  had  no 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     221 

equal  in  America.  In  England  he  could 
choose  a  woman  from  the  most  aristocratic 
families.  Had  she  not  herself  had  twenty 
chances  to  make  a  rich  marriage  and  she 
had  refused,  for  how  could  she  marry  with 
the  name  she  carried  ?  "  God  knows,"  she 
wrote,  "if  I  hate  poverty  and  isolation,  I 
have  accepted  both,  and  neither  has  broken 
my  pride  or  made  me  bend  my  will  to  the 
point  of  accepting  a  husband  of  inferior 
position.  I  will  never  consent  to  my  son's 
marrying  Miss  Williams  or  any  other  Amer- 
ican miss.  The  marriage  has  not  yet  taken 
place  ;  let  him  invent  any  pretext  whatever. 
Above  all,  let  no  one  speak  to  me  of  the 
rhapsodies  of  love  and  passion.  Do  I  not 
know  with  what  ease  men  and  women  dis- 
pose of  love,  and  that  only  imbeciles  re- 
main chained  by  these  pretended  bands,  and 
marry  for  something  else  besides  a  great 
fortune  or  high  position  ?  " 

Is  this  the  woman  who  in  1803  answered 
thus  the  remonstrances  of  her  father  on  the 
occasion  of  her  marriage:  "  I  love  Jerome 
Bonaparte,  and  I  would  rather  be  his  wife, 
if  only  for  one  day,  than  make  the  happiest 
marriage  in  the  world." 

Since  then  it  is  true  that  twenty-six  years 
had  passed,  and  her  letters  tell  us  that  La 
Rochefoucauld  was  her  prayer-book.  Again 


222     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

she  says :  "I  am  convinced  that  an  immense 
fortune  is  better  for  a  woman  than  high  po- 
sition ;  yet  still  this  fortune  must  really  be 
immense  to  excuse  a  mesalliance.  And  what 
are  these  fortunes  in  Baltimore,  and  what  is 
this  large  family  of  Williams  ?  I  myself  at 
my  age  would  never  marry  an  American, 
however  rich  he  were,  and  surely  my  son 
has  a  right  to  look  higher  than  I.  If  Miss 
Williams  had  five  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
and  if  Jerome  could  bring  her  away  from 
America,  never  to  return,  I  might  perhaps 
yield,"  and  so  forth.  This  was  in  1829,  and 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars  meant  two 
million  and  a  half  francs.  Even  at  this  price 
she  hesitated ;  but  Miss  Williams'  dot  was 
an  income  of  about  six  thousand  dollars  in 
her  own  name,  and  which  in  case  of  her 
death  did  not  revert  to  her  husband. 

Moreover,  she  understood  women,  espe- 
cially American  women,  she  wrote  her 
father.  "In  every  country  in  the  world 
women  are  endowed  with  a  marvellous  in- 
stinct and  know  how  to  manage  men.  In 
America  they  are  more  tactful  than  any- 
where else,  and  they  are  one  century  in  ad- 
vance as  far  as  strategy  is  concerned.  If  my 
son  were  to  die,  his  wife  would  have  only 
one  thought — to  marry  again,  and  my  son's 
children  would  be  dependent  on  their  step- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     223 

father."  How  could  her  father  have  let 
Jerome  venture  on  such  a  chance  ?  Did  he 
not  know  her  wishes,  her  desires,  so  often 
and  so  distinctly  expressed,  her  hatred  for 
America  and  American  women  ?  If  Jerome 
were  put  to  it  by  necessity — but  he  was  not ; 
surely  she  had  but  little  money,  yet  the 
amount  she  gave  him  and  the  twelve  hun- 
dred dollars  income  from  her  family  were 
enough  to  live  on.  "I  am  covetous,  I 
know,"  she  wrote,  "but  the  love  of  money 
which  I  carry  so  far  never  made  me  lose 
sight  of  my  son's  interests.  On  the  con- 
trary, was  it  not  I  who  dragged  from  the 
Bonapartes  this  income  of  twelve  hundred 
dollars,  which  still  continues,  and  which 
they  would  have  stopped  before  now  had  not 
the  fear  of  what  they  are  pleased  to  call  my 
infernal  tongue  restrained  them  ?  Is  it  not 
due  to  me  that  he  obtained  a  legacy  of  four 
thousand  dollars  from  his  aunt  the  Princess 
Borghese?" 

We  see  that  Elizabeth  Patterson  had  no 
high  opinion  of  American  women.  She  re- 
fers again  to  her  son  in  a  letter  dated  October 
17th.  If  this  marriage  takes  place  in  spite 
of  her  resistance  and  remonstrances,  she  ex- 
presses the  desire  that  at  least  Jerome  may 
not  bring  his  wife  to  Europe.  "  Here,"  she 
said,  "it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the 


224     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Americans  who  come  here  turn  out  badly." 
To  every  rule  there  is  an  exception,  and  if 
she  set  small  value  on  her  fellow-country- 
women, she  thought  very  differently  of  her- 
self. "My  ambition,  my  beauty,  my  intel- 
ligence, never  had  their  proper  surroundings 
in  America.  After  my  marriage  it  was  evi- 
dent to  all  who  were  interested  in  me  that 
my  true  place  was  in  Europe.  I  could  not 
live  elsewhere.  Providence  did  not  endow 
me  with  that  mixture  of  imbecility  and  nar- 
row-mindedness without  which  life  in  Balti- 
more is  impossible.  You  are  right  if  you 
think  I  shall  never  return  to  America  if  this 
marriage  occurs.  Certainly  I  shall  prefer 
to  live  among  strangers.  Here,  at  least,  they 
consider  me  a  woman  of  good  sense  and  de- 
termination. In  America  you  treat  me  like 
an  old  fool,  of  no  use  except  to  darn  stock- 
ings and  mutter  prayers.  Here  I  am  con- 
sulted in  the  most  delicate  affairs,  yet  you 
think  me  incapable  of  deciding  the  questions 
which  are  nearest  my  heart.' '  Her  hatred  for 
the  United  States  was  a  passion  unequalled 
/  save  by  her  love  of  Europe.  "Happy  coun- 
try!" she  said,  "where  women  are  never 
treated  like  old  fools  ! "  On  this  subject  she 
waxes  eloquent.  c '  In  the  European  courts, ' ' 
she  wrote  her  father,  "the  terms  'old  man' 
and  '  old  woman '  are  banished  from  the  die- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     225 

tionary.  Women  of  forty  or  fifty  years 
marry  under  as  advantageous  circumstances 
as  silly  young  girls  of  sixteen.  I  have  seen 
them  marry  men  of  all  ages,  even  those 
younger  than  themselves." 

Florence,  where  she  then  lived,  was  the 
elegant  haven  for  victims  of  the  triumphant 
coalition.  The  great  changes  which  had 
once  more  upset  Europe,  overthrown  an 
empire,  established  a  monarchy  in  France, 
and  restored  in  Italy  deposed  dynasties,  had 
also  overthrown  lives.  Diplomats  without 
employment,  great  dignitaries  without  insig- 
nia of  office,  discontented  ones  waiting  for 
a  new  day  and  the  changes  it  would  bring, 
went  to  seek  in  Italy  a  less  expensive  home 
under  a  happy  climate.  Men  formed  con- 
spiracies, but  did  not  act ;  intrigued,  slan- 
dered the  visitors  of  the  day  among  them- 
selves, and  took  their  revenge  in  jokes  on 
adverse  fortune. 

Mme.  Bonaparte  was  held  to  the  van- 
quished by  the  name  she  bore,  and  by  her 
broken  alliance  ;  by  her  friendships  and  her 
bitterness  she  was  attached  to  the  victors ; 
thus  she  was  on  both  sides.  At  the  age  of 
forty-four  she  was  still  very  beautiful,  and 
Baron  Bernstetten  could  say  without  flat- 
tery, but  not  without  fatuity  :  "  If  she  is  not 
the  Queen  of  Westphalia,  she  is  at  least  the 


226     THE  WOMEN  OF  TEE  UNITED  STATES. 

queen  of  our  hearts."  It  is  true  that  he 
added  :  ' '  Her  eyes  attract  us,  but  her  tongue 
drives  us  away," 

In  the  midst  of  this  elegant,  witty,  and 
frivolous  society  she  was  in  her  true  element, 
admired,  respected,  but  especially  feared  by 
all,  following  up  with  equal  obstinacy  her 
ambitious  dreams  and  her  notions  of  econ- 
omy. In  her  letters  to  her  father  she  gives 
a  curious  picture  of  this  strange  life.  She 
sees  that  the  hated  marriage  is  about  to  take 
place,  that  her  efforts  are  powerless  to  pre- 
vent it,  and  suddenly  she  turns  about.  Yet 
on  no  account  must  he  bring  to  her  her 
daughter-in-law ;  upon  this  condition  she  will 
use  all  her  efforts  toward  the  continuance  of 
the  twelve  hundred  dollars  income  which  the 
Bonaparte  family  gave  the  son.  They  would 
not  dare  refuse  it ;  they  fear  too  much  her 
bitter  words.  Then  she  added  :  ' '  They  know 
well  enough  there  is  not  a  single  ball  or 
soiree  given  in  Florence  without  me.  They 
know  that  I  am  on  an  intimate  footing  with 
all  the  foreign  ministers,  that  I  miss  no  court 
reception,  and  they  esteem  me  highly. 
There  is  not  one  distinguished  person  of 
whatever  nationality  whom  I  do  not  know, 
and  who  will  not  do  me  any  favour.  My  days 
and  nights  are  spent  in  society."  Then  she 
modifies  her  plans  for  the  future  ;  for  whom 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     227 

and  for  what  should  she  continue  to  econ- 
omise any  more  ?  "I  will  spend  my  income, 
I  will  buy  wood  to  burn  and  candles  ;  I  will 
have  better  food,  and  will  be  more  comfort- 
able than  I  have  ever  been  before.  I  have 
deprived  myself  of  everything,  going  with- 
out fires  in  the  winter,  economising  in  lights, 
and  ordering  my  scanty  dinner  from  the 
wineshop.  I  will  buy  books  and  I  will  sub- 
scribe to  magazines  instead  of  borrowing 
them  from  the  neighbouring  cafe.  I  will  put 
an  end  to  this  sordid  system  of  economy 
which  I  have  imposed  on  myself.  I  will 
have  a  dinner  such  as  others  have.  I  will  no 
longer  be  compelled  to  write  my  letters  on 
the  blank  sheets  of  those  that  I  receive  ;  I 
will  have  paper  of  my  own  on  which  to  write 
to  friends." 

We  can  judge  from  these  details  what  her 
life  must  have  been.  Pride  and  worldly 
love  have  their  voluntary  martyrs,  and  let 
us  not  be  deceived.  Her  dominating  char- 
acteristic at  this  time  was  avarice  and  love 
of  society.  At  first  maternal  ambition,  the 
wish  for  a  great  marriage  for  her  son,  had 
been  the  principal  motives.  She  economised 
and  pinched  herself  that  his  fortune  might 
be  large,  and  so  help  his  chances  of  a  brilliant 
marriage  ;  later  she  economised  for  the  sake 
of  economising.  "  Money,"  she  said,  uis 


228     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  only  reliable  friend,"  but  avarice  and  the 
need  of  society  carried  her  beyond  bounds. 
"I  do  not  understand  life,"  she  wrote  on 
October  27th,  1829,  "  outside  of  the  courts 
and  in  the  company  of  great  personages.  I 
must  go  into  society  every  day.  I  consider  it 
more  sensible  to  pass  one's  time  at  balls  and 
dinners  than  to  spend  it  as  do  the  American 
women,  in  having  children,  the  only  possible 
distraction  at  Baltimore.  If  I  had  a  daugh- 
ter, I  would  rather  introduce  her  at  court, 
and  let  her  dance  every  evening  in  good 
society,  than  to  see  her  married  to  a  penni- 
less man,  and  giving  to  the  world  poor  little 
devils  who  would  curse  their  very  existence. 
I  hate  mediocrity  and  the  so-called  domestic 
hearth.  When  I  was  compelled  to  live 
in  America,  the  idea  of  suicide  entered  my 
head,  but  courage  failed  me.  I  have  sacri- 
ficed everything  to  ambition  :  you  know  it ; 
how  can  you  think,  then,  that  I  could 
ever  approve  of  my  son's  marrying  in 
Baltimore?" 

The  English  novelist  and  humourist  Wil- 
liam Makepeace  Thackeray,  in  his  New- 
comes,  has  perfectly  described  this  type  of 
an  ambitious  and  worldly  woman,  whom 
even  age  is  powerless  to  call  back  to  the 
realities  of  life,  who  understands  life  only 
in  the  midst  of  courts  and  intrigues,  always 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     229 

on  exhibition,  measuring  her  importance  by 
the  number  and  quality  of  her  relations, 
and  dying,  like  Lady  Kew,  on  the  field  of 
honour — that  is  to  say,  in  a  drawing-room, 
where  Death  touched  her  with  his  finger 
and  said  :  "  Let  us  go  ;  the  hour  is  come." 

In  reading  these  letters  of  Elizabeth  Pat- 
terson one  cannot  help  thinking  that  she 
was  really  predestined  to  live  among  these 
surroundings,  and  that  she  would  have 
played  the  role  of  sovereign  as  well  and 
perhaps  better  than  many  others,  with  con- 
viction and  not  without  grandeur.  Haughty 
in  prosperity,  she  would  have  been  in- 
flexible in  adversity,  energetic  in  resist- 
ance. She  would  not  have  bowed  before 
misfortune ;  she  would  not  have  bent  her 
head  even  before  destiny.  With  what  calm 
serenity  this  American  woman  judges  from 
her  point  of  view  both  her  son  and  the 
imperial  family  from  which  she  is  cut  off ! 
"  I  hope  to  live,"  she  wrote,  "  to  see  Jerome 
make  a  name  in  the  world  and  live  with 
great  people.  He  has  no  ambition,  he  is 
without  energy  ;  he  is  a  rock  of  Sisyphus, 
which  I  have  tried  in  vain  to  roll  to  the 
summit.  You  must  have  noticed  that  he 
has  none  of  the  qualities  which  make  men 
aspire  to  a  high  rank.  I  knew  it,  and  I 
saw  it;  but  my  mother-love  drove  me  to 


230     THE  WOMEN  OF  TEE  UNITED  STATES. 

fight  against  all  evidence  and  his  puling 
nature.  For  years  I  tried  everything  to 
make  a  superior  man  of  him,  to  inspire  in 
him  sentiments  worthy  of  the  nephew  of 
the  greatest  genius  the  world  has  ever  seen. 
This  great  man  left  to  his  relations  only  a 
great  name.  Genius,  ambition,  will  power 
— he  carried  them  all  with  him  to  his  tomb ; 
not  a  spark  of  one  survived.  The  Bona- 
partes  are  a  mean  family,  without  high 
ambitions,  mediocre  in  everything,  con- 
demned to  the  obscurity  of  a  purely  animal 
life,  good  only  for  living  well,  to  be  repro- 
duced, and  to  decay. ' '  Twenty-five  years  did 
not  soften  her  anger  and  bitterness,  but  one 
sees  that  strength  and  greatness  retain  all 
their  prestige  in  her  eyes.  Weakness,  want 
of  energy,  found  her  pitiless.  She  entirely 
forgives  the  author  of  her  woes  ;  in  her  place 
she  would  have  done  the  same  ;  if  she  could, 
she  would  act  the  same  toward  her  son. 
She  does  not  forgive  those  who  submit  and 
bow  down.  She  was  born  to  command,  and 
also  to  despise  those  who  obey.  At  length, 
on  the  llth  of  November,  1829,  she  let  a  scorn- 
ful assent  escape  her.  Jerome  could  marry 
his  Miss  Williams, — he  had  been  married  on 
the  3d, — but  a  phrase  in  a  letter  from  her 
father  did  not  pass  without  protestations. 
"  You  ask  me  if  I  still  have  the  right  to 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     231 

blame  Jerome,  I  who  deserted  my  family 
and  my  country.  When  after  twenty-four 
years  I  returned  to  that  country,  to  that 
family,  what  did  I  find  ?  A  cruel  and  brutal 
reception.  Perhaps  God  will  forgive  you, 
but  do  not  expect  that  I  can  forgive.  I  owe 
nothing  to  my  family  and  I  have  a  right  to 
remain  away."  Then  she  is  amazed  that 
anyone  of  good  sense  should  reproach  her  for 
having  left  a  place  where  neither  her  beauty 
nor  her  intelligence  was  admired.  She  holds 
to  this  point  and  keeps  returning  to  it.  The 
less  one  alludes  to  her  voluntary  exile  the 
better  it  is  for  all.  She  refrained  from 
every  complaint,  she  killed  her  griefs  arid 
sufferings,  she  never  spoke  of  them,  and 
does  not  now  except  with  respect :  this  is 
all  that  anyone  can  ask  of  her.  If  her  son 
should  die  before  her  and  without  children, 
she  will  leave  her  fortune  to  her  family ; 
but  for  God's  sake  let  him  have  the  sense 
to  believe  that  she  judges  and  appreciates 
to  their  fall  extent  the  marks  of  interest 
she  has  received  from  her  family.  Her  son 
being  what  he  is,  perhaps  after  all  his  grand- 
father had  a  right  to  marry  him  in  America ; 
but  let  no  one  speak  to  her  of  what  he  does 
—to  her,  at  odds  with  her  family.  She 
understood  how  to  live  as  she  wished  and 
where  she  wished,  in  the  only  place  where 


232     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

she  could  forget  the  griefs  with  which  she 
has  been  overwhelmed. 

She  then  begs  her  father  to  send  her  a 
copy  of  her  will  drawn  up  in  favour  of  her 
son,  without  any  possible  reversion  to  her 
daughter-in-law.  She  was  to  survive  him 
by  seven  years,  and  leave  to  her  grandchil- 
dren a  fortune  of  seven  millions  and  a  half. 

Her  correspondence  discloses  in  a  cruel 
but  true  and  clear  light  the  character  of  this 
American  woman  whom  circumstances  hin- 
dered from  playing  an  important  role.  Of 
no  use  outside  the  circle  where  the  destiny 
of  Europe  was  in  question,  she  was  a  grand 
figure  within  it.  The  quiet  and  obscurity  of 
private  life  did  not  suit  her  :  she  said  so,  and 
we  cannot  contradict  her.  Sister-in-law  of 
an  emperor  and  wife  of  a  king,  with  a  crown 
on  her  forehead  she  would  have  defended  it 
with  a  hero's  energy.  Prince  Gortschakoff 
was  not  deceived  when  he  said  :  "  With  that 
woman  on  the  steps  of  the  throne  the  fall 
of  the  Empire  would  have  given  us  much 
more  trouble."  And  Talleyrand  added  : 
"  What  a  queen  she  would  have  been!" 
Napoleon  did  not  know  her ;  he  was  mis- 
taken in  thinking  his  brother  had  made  a 
mesalliance.  She  knew  that  he  had  not, 
and  did  not  hesitate  to  say  so  and  to  set  it 
down  in  writing. 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     233 


III. 

Since  the  time  when  Elizabeth  Patterson 
spoke  so  disdainfully  of  the  mediocrity  of 
American  fortunes,  and  of  the  quiet  role  of 
the  married  woman  of  the  United  States, 
many  changes  have  taken  place.  These 
American  fortunes  have  become  the  greatest 
in  the  world,  and  the  society  whose  portrait 
she  traced,  animated  by  spite,  and  which 
she  accused  (sometimes  wrongly)  of  relegat- 
ing women  to  the  tamest  occupations,  has 
opened  to  woman  a  field  much  larger  than 
the  one  she  occupies  in  Europe. 

No  one  has  better  brought  out  this  last 
point  than  Professor  Bryce  in  his  interest- 
ing work  entitled  The  American  Common- 
weaWi,  wherein  he  notes  with  ah  unerring 
precision  the  contrast  between  the  social 
and  legal  position  of  the  American  woman 
and  that  of  the  English  woman — a  contrast 
all  the  more  striking  because  the  United 
States  have  received  from  England,  with  their 
social  conditions,  their  morals,  their  cus- 
toms, their  legal  code  and  their  common  law. 
But  this  common  law  originally  made  woman 
a  mere  thing,  the  chattel  of  man,  inferior  to 
him,  subordinate  in  everything.  They  were 
one,  but  man  alone  personified  the  union  ; 


234     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

he  was  the  one  and  she  was  the  zero,  with- 
out rights,  incapable  of  buying  or  selling, 
of  directing  or  even  of  controlling  the  educa- 
tion of  her  own  children.  If,  since  then, 
successive  modifications  introduced  into 
England  in  the  common  law  have  modified 
what  then  was  excessive  and  evil  in  it,  the 
Americans  have  not  waited  for  this  gradual 
change,  due  to  the  progress  of  civilisation, 
to  repudiate  from  the  start  the  greatest  part 
of  these  traditions  of  another  age.  And  it 
is  not  only  in  the  legal  domain  that  they 
have  acted  thus  ;  socially  it  is  the  same. 
^  Nowhere  else,"  writes  Mr.  Bryce,  confirm- 
ing the  assertions  of  all  those  who  have 
lived  in  the  United  States,  "has  a  woman, 
and  especially  a  young  girl,  such  a  happy 
life.  The  world  is  at  her  feet.  Society 
seems  formed  for  her  pleasure.  Father, 
mother,  uncles,  aunts,  friends,  give  up 
their  convenience  and  their  tastes  to  hers. 
The  young  woman  has  a  much  less  share 
of  worldly  pleasure,  because,  except  among 
the  rich  classes,  she  is  more  absorbed  than 
the  European  woman  by  home  duties,  the 
servants  being  relatively  costly  and  only 
imperfectly  trained.  But,"  says  Mr.  Bryce, 
and  on  this  point  wejdiffer  a  little  from  him, 
"  the  position  which  she  occupies  in  her 
home  is  superior  to  that  of  the  English  or 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      235 

even  of  the  French  woman.  We  do  not 
speak  now,"  he  says,  "of  the  German 
woman,  whose  role  is  absolutely  inferior." 
He  proves  his  assertion  by  the  surprise 
which  the  relations  existing  between  English 
husbands  and  wives  excite  in  American 
women.  When  it  happens  that  they  re- 
ceive English  friends,  they  are  struck,  they 
say,  by  the  excessive  deference  which  under 
all  circumstances  the  English  woman  pays 
her  husband.  She  consults  his  conven- 
ience and  his  tastes,  in  amusements,  in 
going  out,  in  making  visits,  in  shopping. 
It  is  not  perhaps  absolutely  the  same  in 
France,  where  the  woman  moves  more  freely 
in  a  larger  sphere.  American  women  recog- 
nise this,  but  they  think  that,  if  the  result 
is  in  France  different,  the  starting  point  is 
the  same.  It  is  to  the  skill  and  wise  tact 
of  the  French  women  that  they  attribute  an 
/equality  which,  according  to  them,  is  only 
Apparent,  whereas  in  the  United  States  the 
duty  and  the  desire  also  of  a  husband  is  to 
consult  his  wife's  tastes,  and  to  do  for  her 
what  the  Englishman  expects  his  wife  to  do 
for  him.  The  contrast  is  stronger,  accord- 
ing to  Mr.  Bryce,  in  the  social  life  of  the 
drawing-rooms,  where,  he  says,  the  fine  ear 
of  the  American  lady  perceives  in  the  voice 
of  the  European  who  speaks  to  her  a  note 


236     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

of  condescension  to  which  she  is  not  accus- 
tomed, and  in  his  manners  a  shade  of  supe- 
riority which  surprises  her.  "Then,  even 
when  a  woman  has  the  advantage  of  rank 
over  him,  of  social  position,  of  intelligence 
and  of  wit,  the  European  considers  himself 
above  her,  simply  because  he  is  a  man,  and 
lets  her  understand  it.  Such  an  idea  never 
occurs  to  an  American.  He  speaks  to  a 
woman  as  he  would  speak  to  an  equal,  with 
more  deference  in  the  form,  choosing  by 
preference  subjects  which  interest  her,  but 
treating  them  as  he  would  with  a  man,  whose 
opinion  in  his  eyes  would  be  as  valuable  as 
his  own.  On  her  side,  the  American  woman 
does  not  expect  him  to  sustain  the  whole 
burden  of  a  conversation  ;  she  considers  it 
her  duty  to  be  agreeable,  to  converse,  and  to 
please.  If  it  is  a  question  of  courtesies, 
she  claims  the  rights  belonging  to  her  sex." 
Indeed,  she  never  gives  them  up,  and  even 
exaggerates  them  at  times ;  and  a  curious 
connection  may  be  made  out  between  the 
oft-merited  praises  which  Mr.  Bryce,  Eng- 
lish as  he  is,  gives  to  American  women,  and 
the  frequently  harsh  criticisms  of  American 
writers  ;  and  that  not  for  the  pleasure  of 
contradicting  observations  made  in  equal 
good  faith,  but  to  note  once  more  one  of 
these  characteristic  traits  which  to  some 


TEE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     237 

extent  form  the  heart  of  a  character,  side 
by  side  with  that  which  is  more  apparent, 
and  which  has  harmed  American  women 
m'ore  than  more  serious  faults.  In  the 
North  American  Review  of  September, 
1890,  an  article  appeared  which  caused  a\ 
sensation  in  the  United  States  as  much  by  I 
the  ability  of  the  author,  Mr.  0.  Fay  Adams,/ 
as  by  the  title  he  chose:  The Mannerless^ 
Sex.  "I  have  to  do  with  women,"  said  Mr. 
Adams  in  his  first  sentences,  "  and  I  know 
beforehand  that  I  am  going  to  oppose  all  the 
accepted  ideas ;  but  what  can  I  do  if  these 
ideas  rest  on  a  purely  imaginary  basis? 
For  a  long  time  we  have  heard  in  every 
form  that  women  exert  a  good  influence 
over  our  manners,  that  by  their  example 
they  refine  and  polish  them.  Many  people 
end  by  believing  this  in  spite  of  evidence. 
The  men  believe  it,  or  affect  to  believe  it, 
through  gallantry ;  as  to  the  women,  they 
are  thoroughly  convinced  of  it." 

There  is  absolutely  nothing  in  this  claim,  in 
the  United  States  at  least,  says  the  author ; 
and  if  the  men  in  their  intercourse  with  one 
another  adopted  the  manners  which  the 
women  exhibit  outside  of  their  homes,  their 
bold  egotism  and  unpleasant  manner,  it 
would  soon  make  social  life  impossible.  To 
justify  his  assertions  Mr.  Adams  cites  a 


238     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

number  of  cases  taken  from  the  details  of 
every-day  life,  and  notes  the  following 
points : 

First,  the  indifference  with  which  woman 
subordinates  the  convenience  of  others  to 
her  caprices  ;  and  this  especially  in  the  case 
of  young  girls0 

Second,  the  scornful  tranquillity  with 
which  she  makes  her  men  and  women 
visitors  dance  attendance  upon  her,  a  char- 
acteristic trait  of  women  who  are  no  longer 
young. 

Third,  the  impossibility  of  her  allowing  a 
speaker  to  finish  what  he  or  she  is  saying, 
before  speaking,  a  trait  common  to  all 
women,  as  is  : 

Fourth,  the  impossibility  of  being  exact, 
and  their  rudeness  toward  one  another. 

For  reasons  on  which  the  author  says 
there  is  no  need  of  insisting,  because  every- 
one knows  them,  this  rudeness  is  less 
noticeable  toward  the  men.  It  none  the 
less  exists,  he  says,  only  it  appears  in 
another  form.  Enter  a  railway  station  and 
take  your  place  in  line.  A  woman  arrives 
and  goes  right  through  the  gate  without  the 
least  thought  of  those  who  are  waiting  for 
their  turn.  She  calls  for  a  ticket,  says  she 
is  in  haste,  and  asks  of  the  agent,  whom  she 
has  under  her  thumb,  so  to  speak,  the  end- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     239 

less  information  which  he  can  give.  If  any- 
one requests  her  to  take  her  place  in  the 
line,  she  thinks  him  impertinent  and  lets 
him  know  it.  She  wishes  neither  to  wait 
nor  to  hurry ;  the  thought  does  not  occur  to 
her  that  she  is  encroaching  upon  the  rights 
of  those  who  have  come  before  her ;  and  if 
the  impatient  ticket-agent  asks  her  to  make 
way  for  those  behind,  and  to  ask  her  ques- 
tions of  some  other  official,  she  goes  off 
indignant  at  the  man's  insolence.  The  same 
manner  and  the  same  unreasonableness  she 
shows  in  every  public  place — in  the  post- 
offices,  at  concerts  and  at  the  theatres,  says 
Mr.  Adams.  Everywhere  she  claims  the 
first  place  without  the  least  thought  of 
others,  monopolising  the  time  and  attention 
of  clerks  whom  she  besets  with  questions 
without  always  listening  to  their  answers. 
"But,"  he  adds,  "it  is  in  the  dry -goods 
shops  that  we  see  her  unconscious  egotism. 
From  the  moment  when  she  crosses  the 
threshold,  and  carelessly  lets  the  door 
swing  back  on  those  who  are  behind  her,  to 
the  hour  when  she  leaves,  there  is  not  one 
minute  when  she  does  not  show  the  deepest 
disdain  for  the  convenience  of  her  fellow- 
beings.  For  hours  she  compels  the  unhappy 
employes  to  unroll  dress-goods  which  she 
has  not  an  idea  of  buying ;  she  makes  in  a 


240     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

loud  and  strident  voice  insulting  remarks  on 
the  slowness  and  stupidity  of  the  clerks ; 
she  displaces  and  drops  things  with  the 
utmost  indifference  ;  she  stares  insolently  at 
her  neighbours  from  head  to  foot ;  she  ob- 
structs the  aisles  ;  and  her  umbrella  is  an 
everlasting  threat  to  the  eyes  of  those  about 
her.  When  at  last  she  leaves,  having 
accomplished  nothing  of  what  she  should 
have  done,  and  much  that  she  should  not 
have  done,  she  goes  home  with  as  easy  a  con- 
science as  a  saint  of  the  Middle  Ages  after  a 
day  given  up  to  pious  works ;  in  her  home 
she  says  with  complacence  that  men  under- 
stand nothing  of  the  art  of  buying,  and  that 
women  alone  possess  it.  Let  us  thank  God, 
my  brethren,  that  it  is  so."  The  author 
says,  and  we  shall  leave  to  him  the  respon- 
sibility of  his  assertions,  that  if  among  his 
equals  the  men  seemed  as  rude  as  many 
women,  their  day  would  not  end  without 
their  receiving  some  well-merited  lessons. 

So  strong  a  criticism  could  not  pass  un- 
noticed. A  Mr.  Croffut  has  answered  Mr. 
Adams,  but  is  it  really  an  answer?  "  We 
admit,"  he  says,  "  the  truth  of  these  facts, 
and  we  appreciate  how  much  is  lacking  in 
the  manners  of  a  large  number  of  American 
women  in  public.  But  the  fault  is  less 
theirs  than  the  men's,  whose  absurd  gal- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     241 

lantry  and  ridiculous  tolerance  have  en- 
couraged this  unreasonableness.  We  only 
need  mention  as  proof  of  this  the  fact  that 
the  American  woman  alone  is  considered 
here  the  cause  of  it,  and  we  cannot  reproach 
European  women  of  the  same  class  for  a 
similar  manner."  He  adds  that  one  rarely  ' 
sees  in  Europe  a  woman  accept  a  man's 
offer  of  a  seat  without  a  word  of  thanks, 
or  presuming  on  her  sex  to  sustain  her  in 
ignoring  the  obligation  of  taking  her  place  in 
a  crowd,  at  the  theatre,  in  a  car,  in  a  post- 
office  or  a  bank.  Nothing  is  more  simple, 
be  it  understood,  than  to  put  American 
women  in  their  proper  place,  and  to  convert 
them,  like  their  European  sisters,  into  dis- 
creet and  courteous  persons.  It  is  the 
man's  affair  and  not  the  woman's. 

In  noting  these  caprices,  which  the  major- 
ity of  travellers  in  the  United  States  have 
remarked  with  more  or  less  insistence, 
we  have  gone  by  preference  to  American 
sources,  which  are  without  a  doubt  less  to 
be  suspected  of  prejudice.  The  one  that 
Mr.  Adams  advances  is  a  true  one,  and  Mr. 
Croffut's  no  less  so.  What  they  say  con- 
firms our  former  assertions  as  to  the  exces- 
sive liberty  which  young  girls  and  women 
enjoy  in  the  United  States,  the  exaggerated 
idea  which  they  have  of  their  rights  and 


242     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

privileges,  and  the  men's  extreme  courtesy 
toward  them.  But  it  would  be  a  great 
/error  to  see  in  the  criticism  of  Mr.  Adams  a 
I  true  and  faithful  portrait  of  the  American 
woman,  to  regard  these  characteristics  uni- 
versal, and  to  attribute  to  all  the  unrea- 
sonableness which  shocks  the  Americans 
themselves  just  as  much  when  they  con- 
trast it  with  the  manners  of  the  most  of 
their  countrywomen.  Those  who  find  more 
to  blame  than  to  approve  of  in  American 
women,  and  girls  especially,  those  whom 
their  free  manners  shock  with  their  inde- 
pendence, their  taste  for  luxury,  and  their 
craving  for  admiration,  often  make  a  text  of 
all  this  in  order  to  bring  an  indictment 
n  gainst  the  democratic  institutions  of  the 
United  States.  All  things  considered,  the 
result  could  not  be  otherwise,  the  starting 
point  being  given,  namely,  the  constant 
between  young  men  and  girls,  the 


equality  of  the  sexes,  made  into  an  axiom, 

the  withdrawal  of  the  parents,  the  children's 

independence,   the    preferences    freely    de- 

clared, and  the  choice  freely  made.     The 

.  caprice  that  is  so  marked  is,  according  to 

/  them,  the  inevitable  consequences  of  a  de- 

mocracy instinctively  opposed  to  the  prin- 

ciple of  authority,  striving  in  everything  to 

reduce  to  a  minimum  any  active  control,  and 


THE  WOMEN  Of1  THE  UNITED  STATES.     243 

extolling  equality  with  an  apostle's  zeal  and 
practising  it  with  the  fervour  of  a  proselyte. 
But  then  would  these  pretended  apostles 
of  equality,  these  would-be  levellers  of 
privileges,  ask  to  re-establish  inequality  to 
the  advantage  of  woman,  to  make  her  the 
privileged  one  par  excellence,  and,  taking 
the  reverse  of  the  Asiatic  conception,  raise 
her  to  despotism  and  convert  man  to  the 
position  of  a  subject?  We  all  greatly 
exaggerate  the  influence  of  political  insti- 
tutions over  social  customs.  Unstable  and 
fickle,  the  former  change  according  to  the 
play  of  passion  or  the  necessity  of  the 
moment.  It  is  not  so  with  the  other,  with 
the  usages  and  customs  which  rely  on  un- 
broken traditions,  and  on  a  long  transmis- 
sion. They  change  but  slowly  ;  they  are  the 
result  of  an  experience  of  a  hundred  years, 
and  in  their  evolution  do  not  act  by  sudden 
jerks.  There  exists  at  heart  more  than  one  \ 
imagines  common  to  the  American  and  the  / 
Englishman  in  their  relations  with  women, 
and  the  largest  part  in  the  woman  of  the 
United  States,  that  greatest  independence 
which  she  enjoys,  comes  as  much  from  the 
change  of  surroundings  as  from  the  intel- 
l^ctual  superiority  which  she  knew  how  to 
attain  from  the  start,  and  which  she  has  for 
a  lon«;  time  retained. 


244     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

But  as  the  United  States  grow  and  become 
refined  the  space  between  the  two  sexes 
decreases.  The  time  has  passed  when  the 
fight  against  nature  absorbed  the  American  ; 
the  forests  are  cut  down,  the  land  cultivated, 
the  Indian  reservations  are  dying  out ;  the 
great  rivers,  once  obstacles  to  communica- 
tion, are  converted  into  mighty  arteries  of 
commerce ;  an  immense  network  of  roads 
and  railroads  connects  all  parts  of  the  Union ; 
and  the  public  school  system,  largely  en- 
dowed and  widely  extended,  has  consider- 
ably raised  the  intellectual  level,  and  restored 
a  part  of  his  superiority  to  man.  The  United 
States  possess  to-day  illustrious  scholars, 
eminent  lawyers,  celebrated  physicans,  pro- 
fessors known  and  appreciated  in  Europe, 
writers  of  the  first  rank  ;  and  if  from  an 
artist's  view-point  they  cannot  yet  rival  the 
Old  World,  we  must  take  into  account  the 
relative  youth  of  their  civilisation  and  the 
promise  of  the  future  which  we  saw  in  the 
exhibit  of  their  paintings  at  Paris  in  1889. 
If,  then,  from  an  intellectual  standpoint, 
man  has  to  a  great  extent  taken  possession 
of  the  territory  which  woman  occupied,  if  he 
has  not  only  shortened  the  distance  which 
separates  him  from  her,  but  also  gained  an 
advantage  which  more  strongly  developed 
faculties,  a  more  robust  constitution,  and  a 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     245 

more  evenly  balanced  will  give  him,  there 
is,  nevertheless,  a  social  province  of  which  he 
neither  can  nor  wants  to  rob  her,  because 
this  province  is  one  of  traditions,  of  conces- 
sions made  by  him,  and  accepted  and  ex- 
tended by  her.  Just  here  appears  the  con- 
trast between  the  ideas  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
and  of  the  Latin  race — the  antithesis  between 
the  Eastern  conception  and  that  of  the  West, 
the  two  extreme  points  of  which  are  Asia  and 
th_g_Unl'M  ftfqfag,  W1'ffr  Central  and  South- 
ern Europe  as  the  middle  term.  A  maximum 
and  a  minimum  of  human  individuality 
correspond  to  these  two  extremes.  No  where 
is  this  individuality  so  marked  as  in  the 
United  States,  nowhere  is  it  so  dimly  seen  as 
in  the  extreme  East.  England  has  trans- 
mitted to  the  United  States,  with  this  stock 
of  individuality  characteristic  of  the  race 
and  more  marked  than  elsewhere  in  Europe, 
that  respect  for  individuals  which  was  early 
seen  in  the  laws  and  institutions  of  Britain. 
It  is  to  her  everlasting  honour  that  she 
first  proclaimed  the  rights  of  individuals, 
and  by  the  habeas  corpus  laid  the  corner- 
stone of  her  Constitution.  In  the  social 
organisation,  in  morals  and  customs,  it  was 
not  so  ;  certain  contradictions  existed  in- 
herent  to  these  historic  causes,  to  feudal 
traditions  and  monarchical  usages ;  class 


246     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

distinction,  primogeniture,  the  authority  of 
the  head  of  the  family,  woman's  subordinate 
i  J  position — all  these  had  but  little  in  common 
with^the  principle  of  individuality  and 
equality,  but  in  this  classic  land  of  com- 
promises their  Harmony  was  bound  to  come, 
/  and  it  was  only  a  question  of  time  ;  the  idea 
of  justice  deeply  rooted  in  the  conscience, 
and  the  mind  little  by  little  removed  the 
obstacles  which  hindered  its  realisation. 
Harmony  was  brought  about  in  England, 
more  in  the  groundwork  itself  than  in  the 
form ;  the  exterior  remained  unchanged 
feudal  and  monarchical,  but  behind  this 
decoration  of  another  age  rose  a  new  world. 
Of  class  distinction  only  that  was  kept 
which  was  thought  necessary  to  the  preserv- 
ing of  the  monarchical  form  ;  the  hereditary 
peerage  opened  its  doors  to  the  intellectual. 
From  their  birthright  came  the  independence 
of  the  younger  sons  of  a  family  freed  from 
paternal  authority  which  was  despotic  from 
the  day  when  it  existed  without  compensa- 
tion for  the  future.  Finally,  woman  without 
a  dot  became  freer  in  her  choice,  more  inde- 
pendent in  her  manner,  in  one  word,  more 
individual,  than  she  was  in  any  other  Euro- 
pean country.  What  was  more  logical? 
The  homage  rendered  changed  its  object ; 
it  was  given  to  her,  to  a  distinct  individuality 


V 

THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     247 

more  than  to  her  sex  in  general.  There  was 
something  personal  and  limited  in  it,  of  dif- 
ferent degrees,  excluding  all  disrespect  from 
its  gallantry,  which  had  but  poorly  hidden 
vulgar  desire  under  a  vulgar  form.  Thus  in 
the  sphere  in  which  she  moves  the  English- 
woman is  more  protected  than  the  woman  on 
the  Continent.  That  which  survives  of  class 
distinction  binds  her  to  an  order  of  things 
where  she  has  the  position  she  desires.  She 
is  screened  and  sheltered.  Great  lady  or 
servant,  urban  or  rustic,  she  has  her  own 
world,  her  equals,  whose  idea  is  her  law, 
whose  good  or  bad  opinion  has  much  weight 
with  her  in  that  she  cannot  appeal  from 
their  verdict  to  any  other  social  tribunal. 
From  this  comes  the  need  of  harmony  in  the 
class  to  which  one  belongs ;  from  this  also 
the  concessions  often  hypocritical,  and  which  \ 
are  often  called  "English  cant."  It  is  the 
love  of  exterior  decorum,  of  form  and  appear- 
ance. We  find  at  every  round  of  the  social 
ladder,  with  man  as  with  woman,  every- 
Avhere,  a  human  being  at  the  mercy  of  his 
passions  and  social  demands,  striving  to 
unite  the  satisfaction  of  the  one  with  respect 
for  the  other. 

If  it  is  not  peculiar  to  England,  this 
hypocrisy  is  more  common  there  than  else- 
where, sure,  as  it  is,  of  a  tacit  accomplice  in 


248     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

public  opinion,  disarmed,  it  seems,  by  the 
"  homage  which  vice  pays  to  virtue."  The 
press  assents  to  it,  not  without  an  occa- 
sional murmur  of  dissatisfaction ;  it  affects 
to  ignore  debauchery  and  vice,  and  forms  a 
conspiracy  of  silence  about  them.  In  order 
to  show  the  extent  to  which  these  are  carried 
it  would  have  to  run  the  risk  of  driving 
away  its  readers,  especially  the  women,  and 
of  being  accused  of  pandering  to  prurient 
curiosity. 

Nothing,  moreover,  is  a  better  proof  of 
the  influence  that  woman  exerts  on  English 
/  literature  than  the  English  novel.  It  is  she 
\J  I  who  makes  its  reputation  and  decides  its 
success ;  it  is  she  for  whom  the  novelists 
write,  anxious  before  all  else  for  her  approba- 
tion, which  they  win  only  by  avoiding  in- 
delicate situations  and  by  veiling  too  glar- 
ing pictures.  Their  books  must  be  able  to 
be  put  into  any  hand,  to  lie  on  the  family 
table,  and  must  respect  accepted  ideas  and 
moral  conventions.  Whatever  may  be  the 
inconvenience  of  this  affectation  of  virtue, 
it  has  its  advantages ;  and  above  all  else  it 
is  comfortable  ;  it  allows  certain  social  ques- 
tions to  remain  unnoticed  and  to  be  hidden 
in  shadow,  so  that  we  might  conclude  from 
the  silence  about  them  they  do  not  exist, 
or  at  least  that  they  exist  only  in  exceptional 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     249 

and  accidental  cases.  It  is  useful,  in  so  far 
as  it  suppresses  notoriety  and  the  scandal 
that  in  other  countries  is  made  over  a  world 
which  the  greater  world  despises. 

This  English  cant  is  found  in  the  United 
States  modified  by  the  existence  of  the 
religious  element ;  here  it  is  less  an  affecta- 
tion of  good  taste  than  the  manifestation  of 
a  moral  instinct.  It  was  once  the  fashion 
to  jeer  at  the  excessive  prudery  of  Boston 
women,  with  their  intolerance  of  certain 
customary  terms,  and  who  were  shocked  at 
the  mere  mention  of  a  masculine  garment. 
There  were  exaggerations,  but  less,  however, 
than  many  suppose,  of  an  ultra-puritanism, 
now  vanished,  the  traces  of  which  are  hard 
to  find.  What  survives  is  only  a  degree  of 
reticence  and  the  delicacy  which  woman  has 
a  right  to  expect  from  every  well-bred  man. 

IV. 

Secluded  in  her  family  and  social  environ- 
ment, the  American  woman  has  up  to  this 
time  made  but  few  and  timid  journeys 
into  the  sphere  of  politics.  It  does  not 
appeal  to  her,  and  when  the  authors  of 
the  two  celebrated  novels  Democracy  and 
Through  One  Administration  represent 
her  among  these  surroundings,  they  avoid 


250     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

giving  her  an  active  role.  She  figures  only 
as  an  onlooker  and  supernumerary,  and 
from  these  very  stories  it  may  be  inferred 
how  little  real  connection  there  is  between 
her  and  the  political  world,  and  how  little 
influence  she  really  has  over  it  or  even  pre- 
tends to  have.  It  is  not  so  of  that  world  in 
which  she  ordinarily  moves ;  and  when  we 
examine  closely  the  various  phases  and 
details  of  life  in  the  United  States,  we  are 
struck  by  the  part  which  woman  plays  and 
by  the  important  place  which  she  occupies 
in  it.  This  is  still  more  true  in  the  case 
of  those  in  moderate  circumstances  in  the 
middle  agricultural  class,  in  the  farms  and 
settlements,  and  in  the  industrial  centres, 
than  in  the  large  cities.  Not  that  the  latter 
do  not  possess  curious  types  for  study  that 
are  essentially  original,  and  unite  in  the 
highest  degree  the  demands  of  modern 
social  life  with  the  highest  aspirations  and 
an  active  philanthropy. 

One  expects  little  on  meeting,  in  a  large 
city  like  New  York,  a  young  girl,  beautiful, 
rich,  courted,  flattered,  who  deliberately 
wards  off  all  suitors  and  yet  lives  a  social 
life,  consecrating  her  existence  and  her  for- 
tune to  the  satisfaction  of  two  unusual 
passions— charity  and  a  taste  for  the  beau- 
tiful. Such  was  Miss  Catherine  Lorillard 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     251 

Wolfe,  who  recently  died  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
two,  the  richest  woman,  while  she  lived,  in 
the  United  States.  Notwithstanding  her 
great  charities  she  left  a  fortune,  diminished 
it  is  true,  but  still  more  than  five  million 
dollars.  It  is  estimated  that  she  gave  at 
least  an  equal  amount  in  bequests  to  chari- 
ties, donations  to  charitable  institutions, 
to  asylums  and  schools,  and  spent  more 
than  two  million  dollars  upon  the  works  of 
art  which  she  collected  in  her  home  in  New 
York,  in  her  Newport  villa,  "Vineland," 
next  to  Mr.  Cornelius  Vanderbilt's,  the 
building  of  which  cost  more  than  three 
hundred  thousand  dollars. 

She  held  a  high  position  in  New  York 
society,  and  a  still  higher  one  in  the  hearts 
of  the  poor,  who  greatly  mourned  her  death. 
Surely  charity,  a  human  instinct,  is  not  a 
special  virtue  of  the  American.  We  see  it 
in  every  country  of  the  world  and  at  every 
round  of  the  social  ladder.  It  is  more  often 
than  we  imagine  associated  with  the  posses- 
sion of  great  wealth  ;  it  is  its  excuse,  the 
reason  for  its  existence  ;  but  it  is  here  that 
this  virtue  is  enshrined  in  a  woman  whose 
age,  beauty,  wealth,  and  tastes  seem  to 
incline  toward  a  brilliant  marriage  and  to- 
ward a  successful  worldly  life,  and  who, 
without  renouncing  the  rank  which  she 


252     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

holds  by  force  of  her  position  and  wealth, 
makes  of  her  fortune  the  most  noble  and  the 
most  generous  use. 

If  from  the  world  of  those  who  are  called, 
and  often  wrongly,  the  fortunate  ones  of 
this  earth,  we  pass  to  those  other  numer- 
ous beings  to  whom  work  is  a  necessity 
and  strife  a  daily  task,  here  again,  more 
than  anywhere  else,  woman's  influence  is 
revealed,  filled,  as  was  hers  whose  life  we 
have  briefly  mentioned,  with  the  inspiration 
of  her  mission,  doing  it  without  faltering, 
with  helpful  hands,  and  elevating  and  beauti- 
fying the  souls  about  her.  Her  humble  life 
is  that  of  many  another  woman  in  many  a 
far  Western  village  which  is  fast  becoming  a 
populous  city,  in  many  a  settlement  in  which 
a  strong  and  healthy  generation  is  rising 
reserved  for  the  future,  and  which,  like  a 
flood,  engulfs  the  new  States  of  the  North- 
west. It  has  been  our  privilege  to  see  the 
work  of  some  of  these  representative  women, 
and  to  measure  the  extent  and  importance 
of  their  work  ;  and  if  among  the  examples 
that  we  remember,  and  those  still  more 
numerous  which  the  history  of  the  colonisa- 
tion of  the  West  during  the  past  thirty 
years  gives  us,  we  prefer  to  stop  before  that 
mentioned  by  the  author  of  a  book  entitled 
Tendencies  of  American  Life,  it  is  because 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     253 

by  the  simplicity  of  the  outline  and  the 
minute  exactness  of  detail  he  brings  into 
bold  relief  the  kind  of  influence  and  its 
simple  and  efficacious  methods  to  which  we 
allude. 

She  was  the  daughter  of  an  ordinary  East- 
ern farmer,  poor,  honest,  religious,  and  bur- 
dened with  a  family.  Like  her  sisters  and 
her  companions,  she  became  engaged  at  the 
early  age  of  sixteen,  and  her  lover  being 
poor  also,  she  went  out  to  service  on  the 
neighbouring  farm,  working  as  he  worked 
with  the  view  of  making  a  modest  sum  of 
money,  with  which  they  might  go  West  and 
create  a  home.  This  took  them  three  years, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  they  married  and 
settled  four  hundred  miles  away  in  the 
southern  part  of  Kansas.  The  land  there 
was  cheap,  the  population  sparse  ;  the  set- 
tlement consisted  of  only  a  dozen  log  cabins, 
scattered  over  an  area  of  thirty  miles.  At 
first,  everything  went  well ;  she  helped 
him,  kept  house,  and  attended  to  the 
poultry.  The  first  harvest  was  a  good  one, 
and  the  log  cabin  gave  way  to  a  comfortable 
farmhouse.  About  them  the  country  be- 
came populated,  immigration  set  in  from  the 
East  and  the  West,  and  the  farm  improved 
and  became  of  greater  value.  But  new  ele- 
ments entered  into  this  farming  district. 


254     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Miners,  disappointed  in  California,  ranch- 
men from  the  prairies,  outcasts  from  the 
great  cities,  came,  drawn  there  by  the  suc- 
cess of  the  first  settlers.  The  husband  was 
among  the  number  of  the  latter,  a  little  un- 
balanced by  his  prosperity  and  by  nature 
very  social.  Little  by  little  he  allowed  him- 
self to  be  led  away,  he  worked  less  and  spent 
more,  frequented  barrooms  and  deserted 
his  home.  Trouble  entered  the  home.  His 
wife  saw  him  as  he  was  ;  but  at  twenty-two, 
far  from  her  relatives,  her  parents,  without 
friends,  without  advice,  first  sadness  and 
then  discouragement  seized  upon  her.  She 
found  the  necessary  consolation  in  her  re- 
ligion and  in  the  remembrance  of  home 
teaching.  She  undertook  to  save  her  hus- 
band, to  remove  him  from  temptation,  to 
bring  back  their  former  happiness.  She  suc- 
ceeded with  time,  with  patience,  and  with 
perseverance.  Not  without  trouble  and  ex- 
treme economy  she  settled  the  debts,  won 
back  the  husband,  more  weak  than  vicious, 
and  spared  him  all  reproach,  only  helping 
him  by  words  of  encouragement.  After  a 
few  years — sad  years,  too,  but  not  without 
glimpses  of  hope — she  accomplished  her  task 
and  regained  the  modest  ease  beyond  which 
her  ambition  did  not  look.  The  first  use  she 
made  of  this  was,  having  won  her  husband's 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.      255 

consent,  to  adopt  two  little  homeless  or- 
phans. She  had  no  children  of  her  own, 
and  the  adopted  ones  filled  their  place.  To 
them  she  devoted  all  the  affection  of  an  in- 
telligent mother-love,  and  all  unconsciously 
to  her  her  example,  like  a  seed  sown  in  good 
soil,  took  root  and  grew.  She  was  con- 
sulted, for  her  advice  was  honest ;  she  was 
heeded,  for  she  was  sincere  ;  she  was  loved, 
for  she  was  good  ;  and  her  influence  broad- 
ened and  grew. 

The  day  came  when  she  had  another  and  a 
higher  duty  to  perform,  and  she  undertook 
it  with  the  same  serenity  and  courage. 
Thinking  it  too  heavy  to  bear  alone,  she 
looked  about  her  for  aid  and  comfort,  first  to 
her  husband,  whose  love  and  confidence  and 
respect  she  possessed,  and  then  to  the  village 
physician,  for  the  settlement  had  become  a 
village.  Without  hesitating  he  became  her 
ally,  such  was  the  sympathy  she  inspired. 
To  eliminate  or  reform  the  dangerous  ele- 
ments from  their  neighbourhood,  by  the 
church  and  the  school,  to  fight  the  wicked, 
to  arouse  and  elevate  the  rising  generation, 
to  eradicate  false  ideas  by  good  books,  to 
create  a  social  life,  which  would  draw  men 
away  from  the  saloon,  and  to  bring  woman 
out  from  her  solitude — such  were  her  aims, 


256     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  she  attained  them  by  the  same  methods 
whose  efficaciousness  she  had  proved. 

"  To-day,"  writes  her  biographer,  "  she 
consecrates  to  others  and  to  her  own  intel- 
lectual development  the  leisure  which  ease 
gives  her,  which  she  did  not  seek,  but  which 
came  unasked.  She  reads  much,  she  writes 
well  and  clearly,  and  Eastern  newspapers 
have  often  published  letters  in  which  she 
shows  a  remarkable  knowledge  of  the  needs 
of  the  farming  class.  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  driving  with  her  on  some  of  her  trips.  As 
far  away  as  the  workers  in  the  fields  could 
see  her  they  dropped  their  tools  and  ran  to 
her,  begging  her  to  come  into  their  homes 
and  see  their  wives  and  children.  There  is 
nothing  more  touching  than  the  affectionate 
homage  of  these  rough  men,  nothing  more 
charming  than  her  manner  toward  them  and 
the  clasp  she  gives  their  rough  hands.  I 
dined  with  her  friend  the  doctor  ;  he  told 
me  the  details  of  her  life,  and  in  so  doing 
had  difficulty  in  hiding  his  emotion.  When 
he  had  finished,  his  wife  uttered  only  one 
word  :  '  Here,  you  see,  all  women  love  her, 
and  all  men  adore  her.'  ' 

Let  us  change  the  place  and  the  condi- 
tions. Among  other  surroundings,  starting 
from  a  different  point,  let  us  note  the  same 
forces  still  at  work.  Here  no  longer  do  we 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     257 

talk  of  an  exceptional  case,  but  of  a  com- 
monplace, because  it  is  true  and  has  no 
startling  incidents — one  of  those  private 
dramas  that  one  meets  everywhere,  uncon- 
scious of  its  existence.  The  woman  whose 
life  the  same  observer  writes  belongs  by  edu- 
cation to  the  higher  class.  As  a  young  girl 
she  lived  in  ease.  She  chose  for  a  husband 
a  merchant  of  her  own  age,  an  honourable 
man,  and  on  the  road  to  fortune.  The  first 
years  of  their  married  life  were  prosperous  ; 
their  reverses  date  from  the  business  depres- 
sion which  followed  the  War  of  Secession. 
Anxious  about  the  future,  the  husband  con- 
verted into  money  what  property  he  had, 
and  leaving  New  York  went,  after  the  South 
became  quiet,  to  live  with  his  wife  in  one  of 
the  Carolinas.  He  bought  there  for  a  low 
price  one  of  the  many  estates  left  by  ruined 
proprietors.  But  he  realised  nothing  from 
agriculture.  The  soil  of  the  farm  required 
enriching  and  intelligent  labour  to  make  it 
of  value.  He  took  account  of  this,  but  not 
until  too  late  ;  and,  being  unable  to  meet 
the  necessary  expenses,  he  sold  the  farm  at  a 
loss  and  went  to  live  in  a  little  neighbouring 
village,  where  he  put  all  that  remained  of 
his  money  into  the  purchase  of  a  house,  of 
which  he  could  pay  only  half  the  price, 
giving  a  mortgage  on  the  furniture  for  the 


258     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

remainder.  He  counted  on  settling  liis 
debts  with  the  money  owed  him,  but  this 
was  not  paid,  and  he  was  compelled  to  leave 
this  last  home,  which  represented  all  that 
was  left.  In  the  meantime  two  children 
had  been  born  to  them,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  the  father  could  support  them 
by  his  labour.  The  wife  resolved  to  help. 
She  sold  her  piano,  her  last  luxury,  and 
bought  a  sewing-machine  ;  but  fifteen  hours 
a  day  of  constant  toil  brought  her  only 
three  or  four  dollars  a  week,  and  the  work 
exhausted  her.  To  cap  the  climax,  her  hus- 
band was  taken  ill,  and  often  during  a  long 
winter  they  lacked  food  and  fuel.  She 
struggled  on,  without  giving  up,  with  the 
unconscious  heroism  of  good  women  in  des- 
perate situations.  At  this  point  we  will 
quote  the  words  of  her  biographer.  He  gives 
us  a  conversation  which  he  had  with  her 
later  on  : 

4  'And  did  no  one  come  to  your  assistance  ? ' ' 
"  No  one  knew  how  poor  we  were.  I  told 
no  one.  I  might  have  met  with  more  sym- 
pathy, perhaps,  if  I  had  spoken,  if" — her 
voice  trembled  and  her  eyes  filled  with  tears 
—  "if  I  had  made  up  my  mind  to  expose 
our  misery  ;  but  that — I  could  not  do,  and 
my  clothes,  though  mended  a  score  of  times, 
were  never  ragged." 


THE  WOMEN  OF  TEE  UNITED  STATES.     259 

"  Do  you  regret  the  past  ? " 

"My  marriage?  No.  As  to  the  rest, 
what  good  would  it  do  ?  I  have  no  time  to 
give  to  useless  regrets." 

"  Did  not  your  friends  and  neighbours 
seem  selfish  and  cruel  to  you?" 

"  No.  They  had  kind  hearts ;  but  they 
did  not  know,  they  could  not  guess — and  I 
cannot  blame  them." 

"Have  you  found  support  and  help  in 
religion  ?  " 

"  Yes.  Without  that  I  should  have  given 
up,  for  the  burden  was  so  heavy  to  bear.  I 
am  not  what  they  call  a  pious  woman,  but  I 
had  faith,  and  I  believed  in  the  justice  and 
pity  of  God." 

Her  faith  was  simple,  her  heart  brave. 
Fallen  from  a  higher  position,  she  was  still 
ajvojnan,  careful  of  her  family  and  of  her- 
self, hiding  her  misery,  bearing  it  without 
faltering.  Being  well  educated,  and  an 
artist,  she  made  a  distinguished  woman  of 
her  daughter,  who  to-day  manages  one  of 
the  largest  schools  for  women  in  the  United 
States.  She  made  of  her  son  a  man  whose 
career  promises  to  be  brilliant.  In  her 
dauntless  independence  she  looked  only  to 
God  and  to  herself,  never  to  another,  not 
even  to  her  own  husband  and  children. 


260     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

A  country  which  produces  such  women 
has  the  right  to  be  very  proud  of  them. 


Y. 

Given  the  starting  point  of  the  American 
woman,  her  equality  with  man,  her  intellec- 
tual and  social  superiority,  the  charm  of  sex 
refined  and  developed  by  natural  selection, 
and  by  the  marriage  of  young  girls,  free  in 
their  choice,  with  a  race  of  settlers,  energetic, 
vigorous,  profoundly  imbued  with  religious 
conviction  and  with  respect  for  the  marriage 
tie,  woman  should  necessarily  appear,  at  any 
given  moment,  as  the  definite  expression, 
the  superior  type,  of  the  race  and  of  her  sur- 
roundings. She  is  all  this  to-day,  and  it  is 
with  a  true  pride  that  the  American  exhibits 
her  to  Europe  as  the  most  perfect  work  of  a 
civilisation  two  centuries  old. 

And  on  this  point  Europe  admits  that  he 
is  right.  The  American  woman  is  as  popular 
there  as  the  man  is  unpopular,  notwithstand- 
ing his  exceptional  qualities.  The  proof  lies 
in  the  reception  which  Europe  gives  to  the 
American  woman,  and  which  is  not  given  to 
her  supposed  fortune  alone.  Without  doubt 
the  traditions  from  across  the  Atlantic  are 
modifying  our  view  of  the  dowry,  and  the 
millionaires  of  the  New  World  appear  in 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     261 

this  more  generous  than  our  capitalists  ;  but 
still  there  are  exceptions  to  this  rule.  If  the 
Princess  Colonna,  stepdaughter  of  the  mil- 
lionaire Mackay,  received  from  her  father-in- 
law  a  dowry  which  was  double  that  which 
Baroness  Burdett-Coutts  brought  by  mar- 
riage to  Mr.  Ashmead  Bartlett,  a  Member  of 
Parliament,  if  we  see  in  the  far  Western 
States— in  Colorado,  Arizona,  and  Nevada — 
rich  miners  who  put  their  daughters  on  their 
wedding  day  upon  one  scale  of  a  balance, 
and  on  the  other  an  equal  weight  of  gold 
bullion,  this  plutocratic  generosity  and  the 
parvenu  display  are  not  the  rule.  They 
cannot  explain  the  undisputed  success  of 
the  American  woman,  the  attraction  which 
she  inspires,  the  charm  which  she  possesses. 
It  seems  as  though  on  this  essentially  demo- 
cratic soil  nature  reveals  herself,  in  that 
which  concerns  her,  as  more  aristocratic  than 
elsewhere,  and  that  the  spirit  of  her  choice 
is  perpetually  working  there  to  the  advance- 
ment of  those  she  favours. 

Of  all  the  gifts  which  the  soil  affords  one 
of  the  most  characteristic  is  undeniably  that 
of  adaptability.  Few  European  women  pos- 
sess to  the  same  degree  as  do  the  Amer- 
ican the  faculty  of  identifying  themselves 
with  such  marvellous  ease  with  new  sur- 
roundings, change  of  country,  climate,  and 


OF  THE 

TTTsriVF/RSTTY 


262     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

conditions.  Better  than  all  others  does 
she  accommodate  herself  to  circumstances 
while  still  preserving  her  individuality. 
The  ties  which  bind  her  to  her  native  city  or 
village  are  not  strong.  She  breaks  them 
without  pain ;  she  emigrates  without  hesita- 
tion. A  native  of  New  York  or  Boston,  of 
Baltimore  or  Philadelphia,  she  follows  her 
husband  to  the  Far  West,  or  travels  with 
him  to  London  or  Paris,  to  Munich  or  Rome, 
with  perfect  ease.  Distance  does  not  alarm 
her  nor  long  journeys  restrain  her.  It  seems 
as  though  she  had  no  native  country,  so 
easily  does  she  adopt  as  her  own  the  land 
whither  destiny  leads  her — Melbourne  or 
Hong  Kong,  Chile  or  the  Indies.  Every- 
where she  carries  her  happy  disposition  with 
her,  her  optimistic  ideas  of  life,  her  gift  of 
finding  some  good  in  everything.  She  is  the 
true  daughter  of  a  nomadic  race,  given  to 
roving,  indifferent  as  to  where  she  is,  holding 
fast  to  that  which  helps  her  to  accomplish 
her  ambition,  to  that  in  which  her  husband's 
energy  finds  a  wider  and  freer  field.  The 
American  girl  does  not  hesitate  for  one  in- 
stant to  marry  the  man  that  pleases  her, 
even  if  she  must  follow  him  to  the  Antipodes, 
and  spend  there  the  best  years  of  her  life. 
The  same  future  which  would  make  a  French 
girl,  and  perhaps  still  more  her  parents 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     263 

hesitate,  has  no  deterrent  influence  upon  the 
American.  For  years  she  has  been  familiar 
with  this  possibility  ;  she  knows  by  experi- 
ence that  the  American  "home"  is  not  a 
fixture,  that  it  is  easily  moved,  and  that 
nothing  in  the  United  States  is  rarer  than  a 
life  spent  in  a  single  city.  She  sees  about 
her  the  incessant  movement  of  emigration, 
from  one  State  to  another,  from  one  city 
to  another. 

It  is  only  possessors  of  assured  wealth 
who  do  not  move  thus;  but  even  with  them 
the  nomadic  instinct  prevails.  Europe  at- 
tracts them,  and  they  go  there  with  a  readi- 
ness which  astonishes  the  European,  holding 
as  nothing  the  fatigue  and  discomfort 
of  an  ocean  voyage,  crossing  the  Atlantic 
as  a  tourist  crosses  Lake  Leman,  pitching 
their  tents  in  all  places  and  in  all  cities. 
Thus  the  American  woman  is  English  in 
London,  French  in  Paris  or  Nice  or  Cannes, 
and  Italian  at  Rome  or  Naples  or  Florence. 
In  short,  she  is  cosmopolitan.  The  tie  which 
binds  her  to  her  own  land  is  very  slender, 
and  no  less  slender  is  that  which  holds  her 
to  her  relatives  and  family.  Early  she  is 
imbued  with  the  idea  that  her  surroundings 
are  only  temporary,  that  they  are  the  result 
of  chance  circumstances  in  which  her  wish, 
her  individuality,  herself,  have  no  part,  that 


264     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

the  time  will  come  when  other  elements  will 
enter  into  play,  and  that  then  and  only  then 
she  will  have  to  make  a  decision.  For  that 
she  must  free  herself  from  every  habit,  from 
every  troublesome  attachment,  and  in  the 
considerations  which  determine  her  choice 
she,  and  she  alone,  must  assign  to  each  its 
true  place  and  real  importance.  By  her 
woman's  instinct  she  will  ordinarily  assign 
the  first  place  to  her  personal  inclination,  to 
her  heart,  and  next  to  her  ambition.  Before 
these  two  considerations  the  others  fade 
away,  or  at  least  become  secondary.  Her 
education  has  developed  her  powers  of  dis- 
crimination and  strengthened  her  sense  of 
responsibility. 

In  all  this  she  differs  greatly  from  the 
French  girl,  otherwise  brought  up,  accus- 
tomed to  see  in  marriage,  before  all  else,  an 
association  of  interests  and  an  emancipation 
from  guardianship.  With  the  French  the 
home  does  not  change  ;  if  the  language  has 
not  the  word,  the  people  have  the  thing. 
About  the  home  permanent  friends  and 
associates  are  found ;  they  sustain  and 
mutually  uphold  one  another  ;  they  are  part 
of  a  community,  a  large  or  small  city,  in 
which  each  member  of  the  collective  body 
has  his  relations,  his  occupations,  his  inter- 
ests, and  his  friendships.  Again,  the  family 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     265 

ties  are  strong ;  they  both  retain  and  sus- 
tain one.  Here  the  French  girl  lives,  grows, 
observes  ;  she  is  imbued  with  the  ideas  of 
her  surroundings,  and  rarely  has  any  others ; 
her  ambition,  for  her  and  hers,  consists  on 
her  wedding-day  in  adding  a  new  home  to 
those  already  existing.  The  nearer  it  is  to 
the  one  she  leaves  the  more  desirable  it 
seems.  They  wish  it  to  be,  if  not  in  the 
same  house,  at  least  in  the  same  street,  in 
the  same  quarter,  and  at  any  rate  in  the 
same  city.  To  extend  this  choice  of  a  hus- 
band over  the  whole  of  France  is  much  to 
expect  of  her  and  hers  ;  over  Europe,  too 
much  ;  over  the  world,  not  to  be  thought  of. 
This  limitation  of  choice  does  not  exist  in 
the  United  States.  Independence  is  too 
great  there,  one's  personality  is  too  strong 
for  one  to  accustom  one's  self  to  such  close 
ties.  Everything  that  impairs  individual 
liberty  is  avoided  as  an  obstacle  which 
hinders  action,  as  an  artificial  barrier  which 
limits  the  horizon.  This  horizon  must  be  as 
wide  as  possible,  that  man's  activity  may 
have  free  play.  From  the  moment  when  one 
thinks  that  life  is,  by  the  fact  of  social 
organisation,  for  the  greatest  number  a 
field  open  to  every  effort,  two  solutions 
arise  :  to  meet  the  unknown  boldly,  relying 
only  on  one's  self,  on  one's  intelligence, 


266     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

will,  and  perseverance,  and  possessing  cour- 
age and  room  for  its  exercise,  as  did  the 
settler  and  the  emigrant ;  or  to  advance 
only  cautiously,  setting  aside  many  a 
favourable  opportunity,  upheld  and  sus- 
tained by  one's  kindred,  hemmed  in  by  a 
special  career,  itself  supported  by  certain 
conditions  of  advancement  which  have  been 
foreseen  and  justified  by  precedent,  marked 
by  regular  steps,  among  the  number  of  which 
is  marriage,  which  establishes  the  man  in 
classifying  the  woman,  and  which  strength- 
ens his  position  and  increases  the  property 
of  the  one  by  the  dot  of  the  other. 

This  last  is  the  French  idea,  wise,  pru- 
dent, conforming  to  traditions,  having  only  a 
moderate  ambition,  seeing  most  often  only 
one  aim,  not  far  off,  putting  established 
interests  and  a  tranquil  life  above  all. 
The  other  is  the  point  of  view  of  the  Ameri- 
can man  and  woman.  If  to  save  their  reli- 
gious faith  and  their  individual  liberty  their 
ancestors  did  not  hesitate  to  leave  their 
fatherland,  to  cross  the  Atlantic  at  a  time 
when  such  a  voyage  was  long  and  danger- 
ous, and  to  engage  in  a  war  against  nature 
and  the  Indians,  no  more  do  their  descend- 
ants hesitate  to  emigrate  from  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic  to  those  of  the  Pacific,  to  the 
Indies,  or  to  Australia. 


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f  UNIVERSITY 

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THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     267 

It  is  another  motive  which  makes  them 
act,  but  it  is  as  powerful  as  that  which 
moved  their  fathers,  and  they  use  many 
other  means  of  action.  As  is  the  woman  so 
is  the  American  man  cosmopolitan,  more 
awkwardly  than  she,  and  in  appearance  less 
adaptable  than  she,  yet  like  her  indifferent 
to  his  environment  so  that  it  offers  him  the 
chances  of  success  which  he  desires.  Among 
new  surroundings,  whatever  they  are,  he 
makes  himself  at  home ;  his  individuality, 
more  marked  than  that  of  his  companion,  and 
far  less  refined,  persists ;  cosmopolitan  in 
fact,  he  will  remain  American,  and  as  such  is 
more  angular,  more  positive  in  his  ideas, 
his  wishes,  and  his  tastes,  and  also  less 
pleasing  and  less  popular  than  she  ;  but  he 
cannot  help  this,  and  he  goes  forward  with 
his  eyes  fixed  on  his  goal.  The  considera- 
tions which  predominate  with  the  French 
girl  when  her  marriage  is  spoken  of,  the 
only  act  of  her  life  in  which  her  will  can  act 
and  ought  to  be  consulted,  are  not  at  all 
those  which  appeal  to  a  young  American 
girl:  Necessarily  their  conception  of  life 
is  different.  The  American  girl  applies  her- 
self with  all  her  strength  to  the  precepts  of 
the  Bible  ;  she  leaves  her  family,  her  friends, 
her  country,  to  follow  the  husband  whom 
she  chooses,  and  in  doing  this  she  imposes 


268     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

no  painful  sacrifice,  no  sad  separation. 
Together  they  commence  the  struggle  for 
existence,  but  without  asking  or  expecting 
anything  from  others.  According  to  their 
ideas  and  traditions  it  is  not  the  parent's 
duty  to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  chil- 
dren when  the  children  leave  them  to  make 
a  home  for  themselves  ;  it  is  not  for  the  old 
to  stint  themselves  for  the  young.  These 
axioms  are  familiar  to  both.  Later  on  they 
will  apply  them  to  their  children  as  they  do 
now  to  themselves.  It  is  for  them  to  choose 
their  home,  their  surroundings  ;  the  world 
is  open  to  them,  nothing  interferes  with 
their  choice,  and  nothing  is  required  for 
their  aid  and  assistance. 

Thus  one  explains  how  the  progress  of 
even  the  most  advanced  civilisation  is  recon- 
ciled by  the  American  with  his  persistent 
and  primitive  nomadic  instincts.  He  seems, 
we  might  say,  to  have  no  country.  He  has 
one,  however,  but  it  is  centred  in  an  intel- 
lectual and  moral  domain,  independent  of 
soil,  of  climate,  and  of  the  outward  and 
material  aspect  of  nature.  This  fatherland 
follows  him,  it  does  not  hold  him  back  ;  it 
exists  in  his  love  for  his  institutions,  for 
their  political  forms  which  the  American 
thinks  superior  to  all  others,  in  his  religious 
convictions,  and  also  in  his  traditions  and  in 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     269 

the  history  of  which  he  is  so  proud,  in  the 
astonishing  prosperity  of  the  Union  of 
which  he  is  a  part,  and  from  which  he 
never  breaks  away,  however  far  he  may  go. 
It  is  an  ideal  country,  but  for  him  a  real 
one,  of  which,  wherever  he  is,  he  is  both  a  son 
and  a  representative,  in  which  he  openly 
claims  citizenship,  which  he  defends  vigor- 
ously against  every  criticism,  and  which  he 
loves  as  much  as  any  European  loves  his 
own,  but  without  being  tormented  by  the 
wish  to  see  it  once  again  or  to  end  his  days 
within  its  boundaries. 

On  this  point  the  American  woman  has 
the  same  feeling,  but  shows  it  with  more 
reticence  and  tact.  Her  patriotism  is  less 
aggressive  as  she  is  more  cosmopolitan ;  and 
this  very  quality  tends  to  soften  and  even  to 
smooth  away  the  angles  of  nationality,  to 
prevent  them  clashing,  and  to  substitute  for 
anything  antagonistic  a  vague  nationalism 
resting  not  on  the  difference  of  races, and 
of  soil,  of  languages  and  of  beliefs,  but  on 
similarity  of  social  position,  of  fortune, 
of  tastes,  and  of  worldly  conditions.  This 
explains  that  which  we  said  above,  that  she 
is  more  adaptable  and  more  popular  than  he. 

Few  nations  increase  so  rapidly  in  popula- 
tion as  the  American,  and  this  is  the  result 
of  the  complete  accord  between  man  and 


270     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

woman.  Both  consider  nationality  as  inde- 
pendent of  the  soil,  holding  that  emigration 
and  voluntary  exile  are  only  a  test  or  a 
piece  of  self-denial,  and  that  they  are  not  a 
confession  of  impotence.  One  of  the  causes 
which  most  hinders  the  growth  of  French 
colonies  is  the  instinctive  repugnance  of  the 
French  girl  and  of  her  family  to  the  idea  of 
emigration,  as  being  associated  (and  this  has 
a  show  of  reason)  with  that  of  the  out- 
cast. As  long  as  emigration  to  our  distant 
colonies  continues  to  recruit  itself  almost 
exclusively  from  the  petty  trading  classes, 
the  incompetent,  the  adventurous,  or  the  ad- 
venturers, just  so  long  will  families  refuse  to 
recognise,  save  in  exceptional  cases,  the  fit- 
ness of  a  young  girl's  marrying  a  man  who 
will  take  her  away  from  all  her  relatives. 

Whether  this  feeling  is  just  or  not  is  of 
little  importance  ;  the  fact  of  it  remains,  and 
the  opinion  of  most  French  women  on  this 
point  is  one  of  the  most  serious  obstacles  to 
our  colonisation  The  sedentary  and  con- 
servative instinct  of  our  race  is  distrustful 
not  of  the  strangers  who  come,  and  to  whom 
we  accord  a  cordial  reception  which  their 
past  does  not  always  justify,  but  of  persons 
who  emigrate  in  the  hope  of  bettering  their 
lot.  Apart  from  the  functionary  in  whom 
the  official  cacJiet  takes  the  place  of  all  else, 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     271 

the  voluntary  colonist  will  have  trouble  in 
the  upper  or  even  in  the  middle  classes  in 
finding  a  companion  disposed  to  unite  her 
lot  to  his,  and  to  break  away  from  the  tra- 
ditional paths.    It  was  not  always  so,  and, 
curiously  enough,  it  has  only  been  so  in  any 
marked  degree  since  steamers  have  shortened 
the  distances,  since  remote  communication 
has  become  regular  and  easy,  since  instruc- 
tion has  grown  more  thorough   and  more 
widely  spread,  since  liberal  ideas  have  pre- 
vailed, since  class  barriers  have  been  broken 
and  since  democracy  began  to  reign.     We 
encourage  bold  explorers,  the  pioneers  of 
civilisation  in  new  lands,  but  we  do  not  fol- 
low them.     We  welcome  the  creation  of  a 
colonial  empire,  which  we  do  not  ourselves 
enter ;  we  vote  millions  for  building  cities 
which  are  not  populated,  for  roads  that  are 
not  used  ;  and  the  very  men  who  sanction 
this  use  of  the  public  money  consider  them- 
selves imprudent   in  risking  even  a  little 
capital  in  the  private  enterprises  connected 
with  plantations  and  manufactures  which 
they  are  then  astonished  not  to  see  rising 
from  colonial  soil. 

If  the  Englishman  emigrates,  if  the  Ameri- 
can emigrates,  it  is  because  in  doing  so  he 
shocks  none  of  those  accepted  ideas  which 
are  everywhere  more  efficacious  than  the 


272     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

laws.    It  is  because  lie  in  no  way  lessens  his 
social  position,  any  more  than  he  lessens  his 
chances  regarding  her  whom  he  may  desire 
to  marry.     The  American  woman  has  in  this 
case  the  same  ideas  as  the  man,  both  having 
been  brought  up  in  the  same  way :    their 
ideas  are  those  of  their  common  surround- 
ings, and  those  which  have  made  the  United 
States  what  they  are  to-day  ;  those  of  their 
ancestors,  as  they  will  be  those  of  their  chil- 
dren.    Wherever  one  meets  the  American 
woman — and  we  meet  her  everywhere,  among 
the  ranks  of  the  English  peerage  and  in  the 
highest  European    aristocracy  as    well  as 
among  the  most  modest  surroundings — one  is 
struck  by  this  marvellous   adaptability,  in 
which  scientists  see  the  characteristic  and  in- 
fallible indication  of  the  superiority  of  a  race 
or  of  a  class.     Whoever  has  travelled  cannot 
help  noticing  it.     It  shows  itself  particularly 
in   the  happy  disposition  with  which  the 
American   woman  accepts  the   many  little 
vexations  which  every  change  of  surround- 
ings brings  about,  and  which  put  the  most 
perfect  character  to  a  severe  test.     She  sub- 
mits without  an  effort  and  has  no  harsh  word 
to  utter ;  she  is  prepared  for  such  a  life  by  her 
education,  and  does  not  expect  to  find  every- 
thing perfect.     Moreover,  the   necessity  of 
manual  labour  does  not  appear  to  her  degrad- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     273 

ing  ;  at  the  most  it  is  only  one  or  two  gen- 
erations that  separate  her  from  the  time 
when  her  grandmother  herself  kneaded  the 
bread  for  her  family  in  the  days  of  the  early 
settlements.  These  traditions  are  familiar 
to  her,  and  the  lessons  which  they  teach  do 
not  discourage  or  humiliate  her.  She  is  the 
daughter  of  a  race  of  emigrants,  now  become 
a  mighty  nation  by  toil,  by  energy,  and  by 
will.  She  has  at  her  very  door  a  whole 
treasury  of  traditions,  into  which  she  is 
proud  to  delve.  In  her,  now  and  then,  we 
can  seem  to  hear  the  voice  of  those  noble 
women  of  a  past  age,  who  were  once  emigrees 
and  reduced  to  poverty,  relating  with  pride  in 
their  memoirs  how,  in  order  to  supply  their 
wants,  they  worked  in  London  or  in  Ger- 
many, willingly  utilising  their  talents  and 
their  good  taste  in  tying  ribbons  or  making 
gowns  with  their  aristocratic  fingers. 

The  American  woman  has  no  more  false 
pride  or  foolish  self-love  than  they.  With- 
out travelling  around  the  world  one  can  see 
her  in  the  Paris  she  so  loves,  at  Mce,  at  Pau, 
at  Cannes,  in  Switzerland,  everywhere  at 
ease,  the  first  to  laugh  at  her  own  mistakes  in 
language,  or  at  her  own  ignorance  of  conti- 
nental customs.  Wherever  it  may  be,  she 
seems  perfectly  at  home  ;  and  she  is  really  so, 
for  the  land  which  pleases  her  is,  while  she 


274     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

dwells  there,  her  adopted  country.  The 
thought  that  she  may  appear  ridiculous  never 
occurs  to  her ;  it  does  not  even  occur  to  her 
that  a  woman  can  be  so,  or  that  any  man 
should  think  her  so.  So  great  is  her  con- 
fidence— a  confidence  justified  by  experience, 
and  one  which  the  privileges  of  her  sex  allow 
her — that  she  has  no  timid  reserve  or  painful 
bashfulness.  As  a  young  girl  the  homage 
she  receives  does  not  embarrass  her,  nor 
does  attention  disconcert  her.  She  is  used 
to  it,  and  frankly  shows  the  pleasure  which 
it  gives  her.  She  is  the  result  of  a  mode  of 
education  and  of  a  manner  of  living  which 
differ  very  greatly  from  ours.  She  has  been 
taught  to  rely  upon  herself  and  to  judge  for 
herself.  In  men's  society  she  has  always 
been  a  free  but  responsible  guardian  of  her 
own  honour,  and  has  planned  her  own  future. 
She  has  seen  and  observed ;  she  does  not 
ignore  the  difficulties  of  life  nor  the  dangers 
of  independence.  If  we  object  to  this  prema-  \ 
ture  knowledge,  because  under  a  brilliant 
and  lively  manner  it  often  makes  her  coldly 
calculating  and  prematurely  cautious,  we 
may  remember  that  sooner  or  later  it  is 
necessary  for  her  to  draw  her  own  conclu- 
sions from  the  world  in  which  she  lives,  and 
that  it  is  perhaps  better  that  her  eyes  be 
opened  and  that  her  judgment  be  made  be- 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     275 

fore  the  choice  which  decides  her  fate,  than 
after.  It  is  difficult  in  studying  such  a  ques- 
tion to  separate  one's  self  sufficiently  from 
the  customs  and  ideas  of  one's  surroundings, 
and  to  be  absolutely  impartial.  Instinc- 
tively we  incline  toward  accepted  ideas,  to- 
ward familiar  customs  and  current  axioms, 
and  these  are  with  us  still  too  different  from 
those  across  the  Atlantic  for  the  latter  not 
to  awaken  in  us  strong  objections.  Other 
things  being  equal,  experience  alone  is  to  be 
considered,  and  it  is  only  by  the  results 
actually  reached  that  correct  judgments  can 
be  formed.  This  experience  in  the  present 
instance  is  conclusive,  and  the  results  are 
satisfactory. 

We  have  not  in  this  study  of  the  women 
of  the  United  States  either  concealed  the 
serious  inconveniences  which,  along  with 
the  excessive  liberty  allowed  young  girls, 
permit  legislation  too  lax  in  the  matter  of 
marriage  and  too  easy  in  the  matter  of ; 
divorce  ;  nor  have  we  left  in  the  shadow,  so 
indulgent  to  error,  the  unpleasant  things 
everywhere  noticed  by  travellers.  We  have 
looked  to  American  sources,  considering 
them  as  the  most  impartial,  and  as  con- 
firmed also  by  observations  which  we  have 
ourselves  made  during  a  long  sojourn  in 
America.  But  detailed  criticism,  serious 


276     THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  severe  as  it  may  be,  affects  but  little 
the  conclusions  which  it  reaches.  If  to-day 
the  American  Union  is  one  of  the  leading 
i  countries  of  the  world,  this  is  owing  to  a 
/  great  extent  to  the  American  woman,  who 
!  was,  and  who  is  still,  an  important  factor 
l^in  its  astonishing  prosperity.  The  United 
States  are  indebted  to  her  for  having  kept 
in  their  religious  faith  a  principle  of  vital- 
ity which  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  brought  over 
to  America.  She  has  been  a  successful 
toiler  in  the  task  first  set  before  her.  She 
has  maintained  that  which  she  created,  and 
has  extended  and  enlarged  it  by  church  and 
school.  In  times  of  trouble,  during  the  War 
of  Independence  and  later  during  the  War 
of  Secession,  woman's  patriotism  sustained 
man's  courage.  Under  all  circumstances 
she  has  been  his  companion  and  his  equal. 
As  such  he  has  respected  her ;  and  this 
respect  which  she  inspired  by  her  sacrifices 
and  her  bravery  at  the  beginning,  and  after- 
ward by  her  intelligence  and  her  education, 
by  her  charms  and  by  her  confidence  in  his 
protection,  has  influenced  American  morals, 
and  has  deeply  imbued  them  with  the  feel- 
ing that  respect  for  woman  is  for  man 
one  of  the  first  conditions  of  moral  life. 
This  moral  life  is  her  own  work ;  she  has 
created  and  preserved  it.  In  the  devotion  of 


THE  WOMEN  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES.     277 

which  she  is  the  object,  in  the  homage  which 
man  pays  to  her,  there  is  something  higher 
and  far  better  than  what  the  charms  of  her 
sex  inspire,  for  there  is  in  them  the  instinc- 
tive recognition  of  a  great  and  healthful 
influence  that  has  been  nobly  used. 


THE  END. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


14  DAY  USE 

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